To Find My Princess
by Zapautumn
Summary: Ashton and his siblings have grown up hearing their parents' and their grandparents' love stories from their Selections. Even though it's not required, Ash is determined to have one- both for himself, and his family. He's ready to fall in love, but doesn't know what to expect. Set with Eadlyn's children as the current generation.
1. Chapter 1

"Well, how about it, Ashton?" Dad asked, frowning a bit into his coffee cup as I took in the question. The room was hushed, silently awaiting my answer to the unexpected turn of events. I was completely caught off guard. In an instant, my kid sister's joke had turned into something very, very real.

"I-I-" I stammered. What should I say? I didn't know if I was ready for this big of a commitment. But, all the same, I couldn't help but feel inclined to say yes, especially with Caroline's wide, hopeful eyes boring into me from across the table.

Caroline was seven, too little to really understand the enormity of what was going on. She was obsessed with her princess ball gowns, sparkly tiaras, and most importantly, Mom and Dad's love story. It certainly was one for the books: soon-to-be-Queen Eadlyn falls in love with the one boy not competing for her hand, Eikko. Even though Dad hadn't really been one of the Selected, Caroline dreamed that one day she'd have a Selection of her own where thirty-five boys would compete over _her_. Boys were still icky at her age, but _imaginary_ boys? Well, Caroline couldn't help herself.

That's why, only a few seconds earlier, she'd been gushing about the Selection for the thousandth time, tugging on Lucy's arm and asking her why she hadn't had one to find a husband yet. Lucy was nineteen, the right age to have one, but she had a suitor from Swendway asking for her hand, and she wasn't about to turn him down. She was ready to ascend to the throne of Illea's constitutional monarchy, taking Mom's place as Queen sometime in her twenties, and the suitor from Swendway was a catch. She hadn't told me all the details- why would she tell her brother, after all? I'd only tease her. But I got the feeling that he was more than just 'a suitor,' and that Alexander and her might have been secretly seeing each other for longer than my parents were aware.

Lucy had gracefully shrugged Caroline's pestering off, reminding her that she wasn't exactly single, and quickly turned the attention to me to stop Caroline from sulking at the breakfast table- or, worse, throwing one of her tantrums that she hadn't quite grown out of yet, to the dismay of my parents.

"Ashton could have one, couldn't you Ash?" Lucy had laughed, winking at me. She took a bite of her pancakes delicately, ignoring my exasperated glance in her direction.

"Yeah, Ash!" Caroline shrieked, leaping off her seat to come tug on my arm, pulling me away from my own appealing stack of steaming, fresh off the griddle chocolate chip pancakes. "You have to have a Selection! That way I can meet your girlfriend before you do!" She collapsed in giggles, but my attention was torn away by a soft "Hmm." My head whipped around to see my mother, at one end of the table, thoughtfully suppressing a smile.

"That's not a bad idea," she mused, looking at me, and Caroline on my arm. "Ash, you're eighteen, and you've been moping about the palace long enough."

"Well, how about it Ash?" Dad asked, sipping from his coffee cup. I was flabbergasted. Wasn't all of this supposed to be a joke, us indulging Caroline's fantasies? But one look at Lucy's face showed me how serious the topic had suddenly become. She had a dreamy look on her face, like she was imagining my wedding already. I shook my head. My marriage wasn't an uncommon topic, being a prince, but I hadn't expected it to come so suddenly.

Caroline was waiting expectantly, like a puppy about to go on a walk. I could almost see her tail wagging in excitement. I pictured her meeting my future girlfriend. She'd probably force her to play with her dolls, and she'd practically- no, she'd all out beg to be the flower girl in the wedding. Of course, she would be. I'd do anything for Caroline. If I was to be married, she would be part of it.

Even without the drive to give Caroline what she wanted, I was taken aback by the silence of my brother Zaire. He was a couple years younger than me, fourteen, so I was expecting him to have some sarcastic comment about me dating, especially since he was just old enough to appreciate women himself, but he said nothing. He had his head down, munching quietly on a strip of bacon, smiling a little.

I looked around at my family. Most of us looked just like Mom, with brown hair, hazel eyes and almost olive skin tone, but Caroline had the look of the sun on her. With her bright blonde hair and sugary brown eyes, she stood out from the rest of us easily. Both of my parents were brunettes, but Mom once told me that Grandpa's hair was blonde before he went gray.

"I suppose," I said slowly, "that a Selection wouldn't be a bad idea."

It didn't even take a moment for the expectant look on Caroline's face to split into a wide grin and for the dining hall to be filled with her overjoyed shrieks. "Ash is getting a girlfriend!" she sang, dancing away from me and twirling around the room. Our table was at the front of the large hall, which was built for many more guests, but when it was just us, the rest of the tables were cleared away, leaving plenty of room for Caroline to run about in happiness.

Mom and Dad looked pleasantly surprised. I supposed they didn't know what sort of answer I'd give them, having sprung it on me without even planning anything in advance. But the loving look they shared as their first reaction, reminiscing in their younger days of the Eadlyn Schreave Selection, was enough to confirm I'd made the right choice. If they were happy with their Selection, then they obviously expected I'd find happiness in mine. And Grandma and Grandpa's Selection was even more legendary, but I couldn't tell my parents I knew that. Sometimes, I wondered if I knew more about how my grandparents got together than my mom. She'd always seemed so clueless when I mentioned a hint of a darker side to their romance that I'd gotten the impression they never told her.

"Of course, you know you can take your time," Mom insisted, coming to her senses. "Mine was so rushed, I wasn't at all prepared. We'll do background checks of all the entries before they're even in the baskets. That way we won't have any bad publicity for changing a name after it's been drawn…" She trailed off. I'd heard the story- not from Mom, of course. She never shared anything that wasn't about Dad from the Selection. I'd done my digging, though, and knew all about the two Selected that had created… an unsafe environment, all because they didn't do thorough background checks.

Dad was staring at Mom with a devoted smile on his face. I rolled my eyes. Sometimes I wondered if he was there for anything but her. She was the firm parent, not him. It wasn't really surprising- without a country to rule over, being a strict parent was easy for her, and Dad was always a background kind of person. Still, I was waiting for his input.

"Sure," I told Mom. "Whatever you think is best."

"Ash is getting a girlfriend!" Caroline squealed again. "Lots of 'em!" She jumped back onto her chair, looking a little tired from her dancing around the room, and started eating again, stuffing a strawberry in her mouth along with another bite of pancake.

"I know we changed the rule about the Selected not being able to leave without permission when you were my age, but I think we should bring it back," I said, the idea springing to mind, though I'll admit I'd thought about it before, back when I'd thought Lucy might have a Selection of her own. Mom gasped. Lucy and Dad both looked up, just as surprised. For Grandpa's Selection, the girls weren't able to leave unless he explicitly dismissed them. For Mom's, anyone could leave if they wanted. They'd changed it for a multitude of reasons. I knew I would have to be careful if I changed it back. "I mean, Mom had that whole issue with Baden that could have been avoided if he had calmed down before leaving. And Grandma wouldn't have married Grandpa if he'd let her leave. She almost did, but he stopped her…" I trailed off, my cheeks heating up. It felt too weird to talk about this with my family. Sure, I'd known for years that my only chance at getting married to someone that wasn't a stuffy foreign royal was to have a Selection, and I knew it was a family tradition, but it was too awkward!

Caroline wasn't so bad, since she was too young to understand most of it. And Lucy was just like Dad- quiet and shy- so she wouldn't say much and wouldn't be nosy. But talking about your prospects at getting married with your parents? It was beyond uncomfortable. I was just waiting for Zaire to make some sort of joke, to make fun of me and embarrass me even further.

I lifted my head. Come to think of it, why _was_ Zaire so quiet? He always had something sarcastic to say.

I cracked a smile when I realized he was only quiet because he was being sneaky. In the midst of my parents distraction, he'd slowly slid Dad's coffee cup over his seat and was taking his first few satisfied sips. He wasn't allowed to have coffee- the rule set by our parents was we had to be sixteen- but he'd had tastes now and then and knew what the caffeine would do, and ever since his first experience with a full cup, he'd tried everything to get at the bitter drink.

"We'll talk about that," Mom insisted sharply. I could tell she wanted to discuss this further, but not at breakfast.

"Hey!" Zaire cried. Dad had realized his cup was missing and snatched it back quickly. Zaire glared at him mockingly and took an aggressive bite of bacon. "I was drinking that," he joked, pretending to sulk.

Everyone at the table laughed except Caroline, who hadn't been paying attention. She was still staring at me, wide eyed and excited.

"I hope she's pretty," Caroline whispered.

I ducked my head. Though my family would never hear me admit it, secretly, I did too.


	2. Chapter 2

Authors Note: Thanks to everyone who has read, favorited and reviewed so far! This is my first fanfic, so I'm really excited about it. I'm hoping to start introducing more characters for the next few chapters, but in this one I had to establish some important elements.

I sat outside, licking an ice cream cone, savoring its flavor. It was only on rare occasions that we brought ice cream to the palace, since it was consumed too fast to be healthy, but my parents sent for some the minute I agreed to the Selection. I suppose it was their way of celebrating. For them, they were getting the chance to have a new daughter and see their son find happiness. It also seemed to have brought them back to the days of their budding romance, which was mostly a mystery to my siblings and me, so they'd stocked the kitchen full of comfort foods.

At the moment, Mom and Dad were meeting with Lucy and some government officials. Despite Prime Minister Edwents being primarily in power, there always seemed to be something the royal family was a part of, and recently they'd been bringing Lucy in to meetings to train her as the next Queen. Mom insisted I wait for them to finish up so that we could discuss the Selection and its publicity.

In the few short hours that had elapsed since breakfast, I could feel my nerves getting to me. Thirty-five young women in my home was overwhelming to think about, and needing to get to know all of them made my head spin. I wished Mom and Grandpa would just tell me more about their Selections, instead of hiding them from me. Grandma and Grandpa had moved to a cottage out in Angeles to retire and give Mom free reign of the place, but I wondered if it was too late to send him a letter, begging for some advice…

I wondered how I would know to eliminate some. I didn't even know how the initial process of application worked… I was just so in the dark when it came to all of it. My parents had devoted all of their effort in training Lucy to be Queen, that they'd neglected to clue me in on any of it. Of course, they'd still been great parents.

The soft click of a door opening brought me out of my thoughts. Dad poked his head outside tentatively, squinting in the gleam of sunlight. Once his eyes adjusted enough to spot me, he smiled and waved me in. That was my cue.

I inhaled the rest of my ice cream as fast as I could and found my way to my parents' office. Argus Folio, the host of The Report, the weekly review that the Prime Minister and my parents ran together, was sitting in one of the stiff chairs across from my parents. Mom waved me to sit next to him.

I sat down, my nerves tingling as I waited for someone to say something.

"Well, Argus, we already told you that Ashton here is interested in having a Selection," Mom beamed. She was so excited. "Obviously, with the changes in our government, there have to be changes to the process as well, and we thought we'd discuss them with you. You are our favorite publicist." Argus smiled at the flattery. It was true, he almost felt like family. I'd grown up working with him, after Gavril Fadaye retired. Argus had never run a Selection before, but he was a fantastic host of The Report, and that was relief enough.

"I guess, first things first," Mom continued, "we should address the application process." It didn't faze her that no one else was talking. Before Illea had become a constitutional monarchy at her orders, she'd been raised to rule all as Queen and was perfectly comfortable running the show. "Normally, Ash, the girls fill out applications and you pick one per province. We'll run strict background checks before the forms ever touch your hands. Everything is done at random, and the names will be revealed on The Report. They'll then have a week to get things in order before they're brought here, given makeovers, dine alone, and find their bedrooms. The next morning, they'll join us for breakfast, and will dine with us for the remainder of the Selection, in tables near ours."

Mom stopped. She was waiting for some sort of confirmation. I nodded. "Now," she added, "you mentioned a rule change. You don't want to allow the girls to leave without your permission. Please elaborate."

I knew this side of Mom. This was her business attitude. Grandpa had joked that she when she was a teenager, her business attitude was her only attitude, but that she'd learned to loosen up and separate her personal life from work. Although I knew her better as Mom, she was working as Queen Eadlyn at the moment, worrying over all the details of the Selection in the hopes that everything would be done as smoothly as possible.

"Yeah," I said hesitantly. I hadn't been raised to rule, but I knew my way around a proposition. "I've thought about it. I've seen the articles written about the contestant Baden after he left your Selection. I've heard stories from Grandma and Grandpa. The rule was there to prevent rash decisions from being made. If someone truly wants to leave, then I'm sure I will let them leave without a second thought. But I don't want someone storming out and causing a ruckus. This family commands respect."

Mom and Dad glanced at each other, then nodded. "Ok," Mom agreed. "As long as we're not holding girls against their will, I think that's alright."

"Now, to how we want this publicized," Dad said, leaning forward on his elbows. I knew he was only eager to discuss this because he wanted as little to do with the media as possible. It was an unfortunate quality to have, as a king, but Dad despised the attention of the paparazzi, or even planned cameras. He always stayed out of the limelight and watched Mom adoringly as she took charge. It worked well, for the two of them, but it was something I could never do. I held my head up high no matter what. I just had to, in my position.

"I've some thoughts on that," Argus said, straightening up to look more important. Mom frowned. I was sure she had an idea, too, but she let him speak. "Having gone over the footage from previous Selections, it seemed the crowd responded best in certain settings. They liked it better when girls started being eliminated by surprise one by one, not in groups. Remind the crowd: this isn't just a game, it's romantic. It's Prince Ashton's future. We should eliminate the commercials teasing eliminations, because it'll bring a shock factor to find out someone's been eliminated, instead of it being expected."

I sighed as Mom leaned in, eager to debate. I didn't like this, turning the girls into a publicity stunt. I knew Mom didn't want to think of it like that, since her own Selection had been forced on her to keep the public happy, but this meeting was turning it into exactly what she'd despised. I was ready to take a backseat role, until the girls actually arrived.


	3. Chapter 3

I fidgeted in my suit. Despite the fact that I wore one regularly, it felt foreign, uncomfortable. All I wanted to do was get out of it. It was just nerves, I knew, but it didn't stop me from tugging on my collar as I stared at the baskets full of envelopes. They were so full! I couldn't believe how many girls had entered. I wondered if they'd really entered for love, or if it was just my title.

There weren't any cameras in the room. Mom had decided to keep this casual, on Argus's advice, so that the first mention of the Selected would be on _The Report_ tonight. I gulped, thinking of all the faces that would appear. Grandma and Grandpa had come to visit so that the public could see two generations of successful Selections give their advice to me and the soon-to-be Selected. They were off getting prepared for the cameras, though, so I faced the baskets with only Mom, Dad, and an over-exuberant Caroline at my side. She'd wormed her way in at the last second, and I couldn't say no.

"Ok, Caroline," I said, leaning down and smiling. "You ready?" She giggled. Being a part of this was all she'd ever wanted, and her dreams were coming true- at least, through me they were. I took her hand and led her around the room to the first basket, Allens. The rest followed in alphabetical order.

I stared at the creamy envelopes. It was too much. "Want to pick one, Caroline?" I asked, looking at her as calmly as I could manage.

"Really?" she cried, ecstatic. Her golden curls bounced as she stood on her tiptoes to get a good look at the basket, then picked the closest envelope to her. She held it out proudly to me. "I bet she's the most beautiful one."

At the next basket, Angeles, Caroline again picked the envelope closest to her and told me, "Don't eliminate her first." She followed this pattern down the line of baskets, thinking up something to say about each mystery girl, and always picking the closest envelope.

Mom and Dad were smiling by the time we were done. I dumped the envelopes into a decorated box and it was carried away to the set of _The Report_ , where later that night I knew I'd be seeing them again. Dad picked up Caroline, swinging her around, and they traipsed off to dinner.

"You can take dinner in your room if you want some time to prepare yourself," Mom suggested, and I nodded.

Time passed too quickly after I wolfed down my dinner. Thankfully, I was never the type of person whose stomach rolled when they were nervous, so I was grateful for the meal. I realized this was probably the last time I'd get to eat in my room before the girls arrived. The next week would be too full of preparations for my parents to allow my to hide from the dining hall. Besides, I'd want to spend the rest of my time alone with my family, before I'd be obligated to devote myself to the thirty-five girls about to arrive at my front doorstep.

My butler eventually shooed me out to go to _The Report_ , and I reluctantly walked down. Prime Minister Edwents was shuffling through papers, preparing to give his political reports, which were being cut short to focus on the Selection. He smiled and waved at me as I walked in. The stage had extra chairs for Grandma and Grandpa, set up next to Mom and Dad. My siblings and I were set up to their left, and in front of all of us was the box of envelopes. I stared at it as I took my seat.

Over my shoulder, my brother Zaire snickered. "Watch your reactions. I bet your future wife wouldn't want you grimacing at her photo." I rolled my eyes, but didn't respond. I was too nervous to respond. Lucy was adjusting her crown as she took her seat next to me. She was dressed regally in a floor length evening gown. It was long sleeved and made of deep green velvet, hugging her body closely. Lucy tended toward stately, regal dresses in darker colors, while I could see Caroline bounding around in her favorite color- pastel pink. Her dress had cap sleeves and was decorated with gold trim, flaring out like a ballgown. It was the perfect fit for her.

Mom shooed Caroline to her seat next to Zaire, where she sat, swinging her legs eagerly. Lucy turned around and reminded her to behave, her black pumps clicking as she turned. Her hair was pulled back in pretty diamond clips, and she wore a tiara to match. She looked much older than she was, this way, much more mature. Nothing like my adorable little sister in her pretty curls and dainty ballet flats, since she was too young for heels. Zaire and I were too close in age to ever look so starkly different.

 _The Report_ was about to start, so I straightened in my chair as Argus walked on stage. He held a microphone separate from the one at the podium for the Prime Minister, but he passed the attention over quickly for the government reports. I thought of all the eyes watching this tonight. How many of them were watching because of me?

As promised, Edwents finished up quickly. He grinned at me as the cameras panned back to Argus, who was eager to introduce the next topic. He swaggered over towards my parents and grandparents, confidently leaning forward like he was listening to a secret.

"So, Your Majesty Queen America, do you have any advice for the Selected?" Argus asked Grandma. She twisted a bit at the old term. It had been a while since anyone called her Queen, but it was still the proper term, even if she was retired.

"Well, Argus, I suppose I'll go back to the age-old advice Queen Amberly gave me. Be yourself. It's the best thing you can do, and it'll live with you forever," Grandma spoke, her voice wavering a little from her age. She smiled at me, and Argus turned to Grandpa.

"What about you, King Maxon? Any advice for your grandson?" he asked.

"I'd just say that he should do what he wants. I never listened to the advice I was given, and I chose the most stunning, intelligent woman you could find." Grandpa paused to look at his wife. "And I wouldn't have gotten this lucky if I had done what other people wanted."

The few people watching in the audience seats gave a collective 'Aw' as the couple smiled at each other. Argus moved on to my mother as she rolled her eyes and laughed. "I'll second that!" she cried. "I didn't even choose someone from the Selected! Although," she added, composing herself a bit as she looked at me with a knowing look, "I'm sure we won't have trouble with that this time. My son likes to go by the books, something I never did."

I laughed. Everything on _The Report_ was a bit staged, but it was better than the old footage I'd seen of my Great-Grandpa, King Clarkson, when Grandpa had his Selection. Everything was forced. You could even tell Mom was acting in her Selection interviews. They'd improved the mics so that anyone could say something on stage and be heard without a handheld microphone shoved in their face. That way it felt more realistic, like conversations, instead of interviews. Still, we'd all been trained to be on camera long before we ever spoke on Reports.

"I hope that doesn't mean it won't be exciting, because I'm sure I speak for all Illea when I say, we want to hear all about our Prince's Selection. And, speaking of, let's get down to business. What do you say, Prince Ashton, are you ready to get your first glimpse of the lovely ladies?"

I smiled casually. I knew the camera would be directed at me the entire time they opened the envelopes- on everyone's TV screens across Illea, there would be a box in the corner portraying my every reaction. Everyone would be waiting with bated breath to see what I thought of the girls. I wondered what I'd think as well. One of them would be my wife, after all.

Argus set down his microphone on the table that held the box of smooth, creamy envelopes. They were stacked neatly, having been prepared by the production crew. He picked up the first one and fiddled with the tab. Since I'd last seen it, someone had labeled it neatly with a gray one. The number must correspond with the image of the girl, I realized, which they had to remove in advance from the envelope so they could project the image on a screen for me, and prepare it to put on camera for the rest of the nation. I gripped the sides of my chair, antsily waiting as he took his time pulling out the folded piece of paper. All across Illea, people were about to see the same image I was about to see- the first Selected.

"From Zuni," Argus announced, as the image of a thin haired brunette with astonishingly large eyes was projected for me to see, knowing the rest of the country could too, "April Capheim."

"From Lakedon, Faith Reid. From Labrador, Emily Jones." Both of these girls looked radiant, with red lipstick and dark hair. I was surprised that production put their envelopes next to each other. Caroline pulled on my shoulder and I let her come stand by me so she could watch my reaction, too.

I realized, as the names went on, that I wasn't very responsive. Some of the girls surprised me, and at some of the pictures I smiled, but I didn't show it well. I consciously tried varying my reactions so I didn't look boring, but it was difficult. As Jade Schmidt and Alison Whines were read, my thoughts wandered to the girls being chosen. Were they watching at home, with their families? Were they happy to be chosen? Disappointed? I nervously looked at Lucy for reassurance, happy to find it in her satisfied smile. If she liked what she saw up there, then I knew I had a good group of girls.

"From Midston, Isabella Schroeder," Argus read, and the screen changed to show a golden haired girl with dark gray eyes with hints of blue. They weren't large or small or anything, but they drew me in as if they were the most unique pair of eyes I'd ever seen. Her cheekbones and jawline were soft, barely defined, giving her a round, innocent look to her face. I was stunned, and they moved on much too soon.

"Do you like her?" Caroline whispered in my ear. I shrugged. They were almost done with the names.

"Aaaand, we're out!" someone called from offstage. I stumbled to my room, ignoring my family, who seemed fine with leaving me be, and collapsed on my bed. My butler scurried over immediately to help me out of my suit.

I thought of the girls' faces that I'd seen. Isabella. Isabella Schroeder. Her face floated in my mind. Stop it, I thought, stop thinking of girls you've never met. You don't even know what she'll be like.

I fell asleep the minute my suit was off, collapsed in a mountain of pillows, the nerves from the day and adrenaline I hadn't even realized was pumping through my body finally wearing off, leaving me to get some much needed rest.


	4. Chapter 4

Everyone was rushing around the halls except for my family. The six of us sat calmly- or rather, my family sat calmly while I fidgeted- in our seats, not saying a word, as we listened to the racing footsteps and frantic calls from maids as the girls arrived. The chefs had served us breakfast for dinner, my personal favorite, but I suspected they'd only done it because they were more worried about cooking for the thirty-five girls that were arriving. The first night was a seven course meal, per tradition, and my parents had no qualms sticking to our usual two courses while the kitchens got used to the new cooking schedule.

I knew that when the girls first stepped foot into the castle they would be getting makeovers, and I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to put faces to names after they all changed up their looks. There was still one more night for me to go over their files before I met them, however, so I was rushing through my meal so I could get back to my room.

"They're out of eyeshadow in there already!" I heard the muffled voice of an exasperated maid filter through the walls. "Some clumsy girl knocked over the basket and they all broke!"

Mom stifled a laugh, her eyes twinkling. She always took pride in her appearance. I could see why this amused her. Dad was smiling too, probably because he'd seen this all before when he first arrived at her Selection. He hadn't taken part in the makeovers, I doubted, but he must've seen it all occur.

"Are Aunt Josie and Uncle Kaden going to come visit anytime soon?" Lucy asked, leaning over to look at our parents. "Meg sent her well wishes about Alexander in the mail." Uncle Kaden was Mom's brother, and Meg was his only daughter. She was around Zaire's age and, like Caroline, a hopeless romantic, only she was old enough to understand romance. She'd sent me a letter as well, and I knew she'd want to visit at some point to scope out the girls in the Selection and give me advice.

"Mm," Mom said. "They didn't mention anything, but I know they're busy. They just got back from vacation in New Asia. They probably don't want to add to all the confusion right now. Maybe once things have settled down we can invite to visit. And Ahren and Camille. Maybe even Osten, if he's willing to wrangle all his kids together…" She trailed off thoughtfully.

"We can have a ball sometime," Lucy suggested, sipping her orange juice delicately. Watching my family treat breakfast like they were dining with foreign royals was one of the reasons I loved having it for dinner so much. Since dinner was always served with wine glasses and my parents had made strong efforts to avoid alcohol for the sake of their children, seeing them sip bright orange juice was very amusing.

After the commotion seemed to have died down outside the doors, I excused myself to my room to look over the files of the girls once more. That had been my last casual family meal without the presence of the Selected. I had to compose myself for the coming weeks, months, or however long this would take.

It was frustrating how thirty-five faces all seemed to blend together, with only a few standing out, when you tried so hard to memorize their names. I couldn't forget Isabella Schroeder, with her captivating stare at the camera, but I was starting to mix up Piper with Clover, and Xeraphina looked almost exactly like Raella, except Raella's head was much too large for her neck and Xeraphina's was situated just fine.

I don't know when I actually fell asleep, but I woke up to my butler shaking me amongst scattered pages of paper on my bed. I hadn't even pulled back the covers. My butler was smiling politely at me. He was new- my last butler had moved to a different province with his wife- and I hadn't gotten to know him well yet.

"Hey, Bryce, am I late?" I groaned, wanting to sink back into my pillows. He shook his head, glancing at the door.

"No, but I would suggest you get up now, Your Highness," he advised. "You might want to get to the dining hall ahead of the crowd."

Was that a joke? Or was he serious? I was too tired to tell, but I reluctantly forced myself to get off the bed. I was hardly in the mood to wear a suit so early in the day, even if I was about to meet thirty-five women, so I wore a button-up and slacks. Bryce had no objections, but shooed me out the door quickly, wishing me good luck as he shut the door behind me.

The dining hall was fuller than I was used to. Instead of our only table set up in the middle, it had been pushed closer toward the one wall with windows, and a couple larger table shad been brought in to seat the Selected. Caroline and Mom were the only two there when I arrived, thankfully. While Mom was composed, I knew she was excited, but Caroline could hardly contain herself. She was bouncing in her seat, ignoring the big omelette in front of her. I wasn't fond of eggs, so I was glad to see the chefs had substituted mine with a plate of toast and sausages.

"Ready, Ash?" Mom asked me quietly, giving me a reassuring squeeze of my hand as I moved past her to my seat. I nodded, gulping as the door of the hall opened. It was only Zaire, however, and he grinned at me as he swaggered in.

"Excited to meet the ladies?" he snickered. "I hear they're very excited to meet you."

I ignored him, taking a bite out of my toast to avoid answering. Dad and Lucy filtered in, smiling at me but not saying anything.

"They all come in together," Mom told me. "We put Hope in charge of instructing them on proper protocol."

I ate my toast quietly, staring at the doors, waiting for them to open. Occasionally, I glanced at my family, but they were as silent as me. None of us had anything to say. The suspense was growing immensely, until-

With a soft creak, the doors opened, and the girls filtered in behind Hope. She curtsied to my parents and waved the girls in with a wide smile. I didn't exactly know her title, but she'd been around for ages and knew all the inner workings of the palace and often sat in with Lucy during meetings. She was the perfect fit to instruct the Selected, although I wasn't quite sure what she'd be doing.

All thirty-five of the Selected curtsied to my parents before taking their seats. Like my family, they had pre-arranged seating, but Hope directed them with ease to their places. I was relieved to realize that I could still recognize almost all of the girls, and figure out the names of those who had changed their looks drastically. Isabella Schroeder was one of only a couple girls with blonde hair, which surprised me, but it made her easy to pick out. She was dressed in a pretty orange dress, a daring color. The rest of the girls were in blues, creams and pinks. One other girl, Emily Jones, wore red.

"Welcome," my mother said warmly. She was a natural hostess. "I'm sure you're all very hungry, so please, help yourselves to breakfast." Mom looked at me significantly, expecting me to jump in. I shook off my nerves, jumping to the cause.

"If you don't mind, however," I said, and immediately felt all the eyes on me. Most of them had been looking my way before, but now there was no denying the stares, "I'd like a chance for you to introduce yourselves. I'll call you over individually to talk during the meal."

I abandoned my meal, which I'd only half finished, and stood to escort the first girl over the some couches in a more secluded part of the suddenly full hall. She was fighting a blush, I could tell, but looked very pretty in her pastel gown and diamond jewelry.

"Lady Brenda," I said, offering her a seat.

"Prince Ashton," she replied, smiling a little.

"How are you enjoying the palace so far? I'm sorry to steal you away before you had a chance to try to food. The chefs here are wonderful."

Lady Brenda blushed, looking a bit embarrassed. "It's beautiful, Your Highness. I've never seen anything like it."

I smiled, but she looked down at her hands, blushing again. Back at the tables, the rest of the girls were talking quietly, as they'd probably been instructed to keep their voices low. Some of them were waving their hands animatedly in conversation, but most kept still and regal, as if trying to fit the profile of a princess.

It was difficult to speak with Lady Brenda, so I soon escorted her back to the tables and greeted the next girl, Lady Amberly. She'd had her hair dyed a darker shade of brown since her picture, and wore a blue pearl necklace, something I'd never seen before.

"Lady Amberly," I said, "did you know you shared a name with my great-grandmother, Queen Amberly?"

"Oh please, you may call me Amberly," she quickly said, embarrassed. "My parents adore the royal family. They said they didn't have a single other name picked out. I probably would've been named Clarkson if I were a boy." She laughed a little, and I joined in. King Clarkson hadn't had the greatest reputation, but she had a knowing look in her eye as she ridiculed her parents.

"Well, I hope you take it as a compliment when I say I'm grateful you're a girl," I joked. Amberly laughed again, and her clear, vibrant voice made me astonished at how bland my attempts at conversation with Lady Brenda had been. I hoped the rest of the introductions would be as easy as this.

"I'll admit, I'm glad too," Amberly said, lowering her voice as if it were a secret. "Otherwise, I'm sure I wouldn't be here." She grinned even wider, and I held back a laugh.

"It seems as if your absence is frustrating some of your companions," I noted, glancing over at Amberly's table where Emily Jones and Sophie Eggbert were frowning subtly at us, while April Capheim was visibly distraught. "Perhaps I better move on."

"Of course, Your Highness," Amberly stood, reverting to a more formal air as she realized she was becoming a competition piece.

"No need for that," I assured her. I'd known that some of the girls would treat this like a game, but I wanted Amberly to be comfortable. From our initial impression, I was hoping to keep her around. "Call me Ashton."

After I'd escorted Amberly back, Emily Jones took me arm. She'd brightened up as soon as I'd drawn near, but I she'd have to impress me quite a bit to change the feeling that she was here for my title, not for me.

"Prince Ashton, it's absolutely incredible to be here," she gushed as we walked toward the couches. I smiled politely back at her. She'd dyed her dark hair to have a slightly reddish tint, and she was sporting the same shade red lipstick as in her application photo.

"I'm glad you like it," I responded.

"I bet this is really crazy for you," Emily continued. "It's been crazy for us, too. I mean, it's been good, but crazy. Really overwhelming. We've just arrived and now I'm meeting the Queen and the King, and- wow- I'm meeting you! Oh gosh, I'm probably scaring you. I don't mean to scare you, I'm just so happy to be here…" She trailed off, wincing and clamping her lips shut tight, as if in doing so she was hoping to end further embarrassment.

"Not at all, Lady Emily," I reassured her, clasping my hands. "I like your enthusiasm. Most of the girls seem very shy. I'm glad your energy hasn't dampened in such a momentous experience."

"Oh, really? Thank goodness, I know I can be a bit much, but I knew I had to try in this Selection. I mean, who knows? Maybe you'll like me," she cried in relief, reaching out to touch my arm kindly.

I suddenly felt a strain to hide my surprised reaction. Desperately, I stood to escort her back to the tables. No one had touched me yet, and I was so shocked, I didn't know what to think. Thankfully, Emily didn't seem to notice that I'd recoiled, and she thanked me graciously before returning to her breakfast, where she greeted Amberly with a smile, I noted.

Apparently, I shouldn't have put so much stock in my first impressions. I'd led her to the couches expecting her to act like she wanted me title, but she'd left more than an impression in my mind as I greeted the next girl.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: Wow! I had no idea what to expect when I started this, but I'm so grateful to all the people who have read this so far, and especially thankful to those that reviewed and favorited. I love you all! This chapter addresses a few more of the girls, and the first elimination. I hope to add more dates in the future chapters, as well.**

Lady Nora fixed me with an expression of pure disappointment, but it only confirmed that I'd made the right choice. She wasn't mourning the loss of a chance at love, she was mourning the crown. It was ridiculous, considering I'd never be the heir to the crown with Lucy set to inherit it, but that still had been her sole hope in entering the Selection.

Lady Brenda's cheeks turned red when I'd announced to the group of them the news. I'd called them down from their rooms after breakfast, wanting to give them the privacy of being told before the other girls even knew to ask questions. Their maids had brought them down to my office, which was less of an office and more of a lounge where I did my schoolwork and stared at the fireplace, since I really had no need to work.

Each of them curtsied as they left, each holding back different reactions. Aside from Lady Brenda, only Lady Sky from Baffin seemed sorry to leave, and the rest were just hiding anger or resentment. They were the only ones I knew from the beginning that I wouldn't find any connection with.

So seven left, leaving the number thirty-five to dwindle to twenty-eight. I took a deep breath in the hot, stuffy air. I could handle twenty-eight.

I thought about the advice I'd been given. Caroline wanted me to jump right into dating, fall in love, get married, and never look back. I knew it wouldn't quite work like that. Lucy said to take my time, starting with the girls I felt the most connection with and slowly work my way to everyone. When I started missing someone else during a date, she said, send the girl home who could no longer keep my attention. Mom said to do group dates, but that felt wrong. It would be difficult enough for the girls to fight for my attention- but to encourage it instead of just spending individual time with each? I couldn't bring myself to do that, no matter how convenient.

While I was thinking, I took the files that my butler had delivered and sorted through them. I took out Brenda's and Nora's, which were on top. I found the other five girls in the stack of papers and separated them. Then, I balled them up unceremoniously and threw them into the fireplace one by one.

Goodbye Nora, I thought, as the white paper shriveled.

Goodbye Raella, and the sheet disintegrated into gray ash.

Goodbye Thalia, while flames snatched at the inky letters.

Goodbye Sky, as the paper tumbled into the side of the fireplace where the flames couldn't reach, and sat there for a few moments before finally a log shifted and it caught fire.

Goodbye Lydia, goodbye Brenda, goodbye Olivea, I thought. You are no longer competing in this crazy competition for my heart.

I stared at the licking flames for a little while longer, mesmerized by their movement, before willing myself to look back at the papers. I looked at Isabella Schroeder's form. When we met at breakfast, she'd been flirty and friendly, laughing and leaning in. I'd noticed she twirled her hair and crossed her legs around me, but hugged her waist in discomfort when she returned to the others. She'd captivated my attention, even after we'd finished our conversation.

Setting the paper back, I decided to make a plan to see her. Then, I'd see Alison, then Isla. Hopefully I could do it all in three days. I scratched notes down on pieces of paper and sent them off to find the girls in the Women's Room. After a second thought, I called back the butler to request he deliver them at different times. I didn't want to look unclassy, asking out three of them at once.

After dinner, I knocked at Isabella's door, nervously fidgeting with my shirt collar. She flung it open brightly, smiling.

"Your Highness!" she cried.

"Ashton," I corrected.

"Right. Ashton." Isabella cocked her head, taking in the name. "I like Ashton."

I laughed, nervously. Did she mean she liked my name? Or that she liked me? Isabella straightened up again, leaning on the door a bit as she looked at me. She was wearing a casual evening dress and flats. Most of the girls, including her, had worn heels throughout the day, but it seemed she wasn't used to them enough to leave them on for too long.

"So, what's the plan?" Isabella asked curiously.

"I was wondering if you would like to go watch a movie. We have a great theater," I told her. "And you can make popcorn and pick the film, if you like."

Isabella pretended to consider, then smiled mischievously. "Sure."

I offered her my arm, which she took, and we walked to the palace's home theater. Isabella gasped softly when we walked in, taking in the sight of the leather seats and giant movie screen, noticing the mouth-watering table of snacks and candy. She let go of my arm immediately and dashed over to the food.

"Oh, I love chewies!" she squealed, looking at a glass bowl full of colorful candy.

"You mean, gummy worms?" I asked, joining her and drawing a tie-dye worm out of the bowl, letting it dangle in between my fingers.

"Oh, sure, gummy worms," she corrected herself. "I've always called them chewies. They're my favorite." She snatched the gummy worm I was holding with a playful smile and took a bite out of it, slowing to tug on it to sever the head from the body.

"I'll keep that in mind," I said, picking up the bowl and grabbing her hand to lead her over to the seats in front. I set the candy in between us, balancing it on the wide armrest. She sighed happily.

"Hold on, you still have to pick out the movie!" I reminded her. "Don't settle in yet."

Isabella rolled her eyes and looked through our options. She stopped at a light hearted action with a shrug, looked to me for confirmation, then picked it. We both relaxed as the movie began to play.

I contemplated wrapping my arm around her as the plot began to thicken, but wrinkled my nose at the thought. This was my first date- both with her, and ever. I didn't want to rush things for obligation. So, I left the candy bowl between us and simply enjoyed her company, even if it was unconventional.

By the time the credits rolled, Isabella had demolished most of the gummy worms. Clutching her stomach jokingly, she groaned, "I'm sure I ate too many," but still stood up and twirled as she laughed.

"You have all night to sleep it off," I reminded her, and she threw her head back in more laughter.

"But there's so many courses at every meal, what will I do at breakfast?" she giggled.

I shrugged. Isabella was lighthearted, without a doubt. I hadn't known what to expect from the girl who'd caught my attention from the very start, but she hadn't failed me yet. It had been a surprise to find her so confident and comfortable around me, especially when most of the girls were scared or nervous or trying too hard to impress me. She was refreshing. I was only concerned that it was too good to be true.

The next morning, I was still thinking about how much I'd enjoyed myself with Isabella, but forced myself to shake her off my mind in order to get to breakfast. I was the last of my family to enter the dining hall, and two of the Selected were there already- Atlantis and Alison. They both stood to curtsy when I entered the room, both looking energetic but neither smiling much. They simply looked passive.

I sank into my seat and my family stared at me. I snatched my goblet of orange juice and took a gulp before anyone said anything.

"Did you gone on a date, Ashton?" Caroline asked me innocently. "You didn't tell me you were going on a date?" Zaire sniggered and threw his toast crusts at me when Mom and Dad looked down at Caroline.

"Oh, Caroline," I sighed. "I didn't tell you because I wanted to save up the details for after!" That seemed to satisfy her, but she didn't get to ask any more questions because the Selected were starting to filter in in large groups, now. I dug into my breakfast, glancing slyly at the tables of the Selected to see if the chefs had gotten my message last night.

Indeed, they had. At each table there was a bowl of gummy worms. I smirked, hoping it would start a conversation when Isabella arrived, but- I looked around. Everyone had entered but her. The group at her table looked past her empty chair with frowns. Where was she?

I didn't wait long. After a minute or two of my quiet puzzlement, the doors swung open again and she hurried in, sweeping a deep curtsy to the head table.

"My apologies," she called, then took her seat with her head down. I waited to see if she would notice the gummy worms, but Lady Emily distracted everyone in the room when she knocked over a glass bowl of yogurt onto the floor, where it shattered. The girls nearest to her- Amberly and April- shrieked in surprise.

"Oh no!" Emily cried, her hands fluttering to her face. "Oh no, I am so, so sorry!" She was distraught, standing up and looking around frantically at the glass shards and splattered yogurt. Amberly delicately pulled her feet away from the floor, composing herself, while April's lip quivered.

"Not to worry," I said, standing and striding over quickly near Emily. I held out my hand and led her away from the glass. She was wearing heels, naturally, and it took her a few moments to navigate her way through. By that time, maids had rushed forward with mops and dustpans to clean up the mess.

I turned to assist April, and Amberly followed on her own, sidestepping the few glass fragments that had scattered farther than the rest. I looked to my parents for a cue. Mom looked exasperated and Dad had his hand on her shoulder, facing her. None of my siblings moved to help me. Caroline and Lucy were watching passively, but Zaire frowned.

"Why don't you ladies take the empty seats at other tables?" I suggested uncertainly. Amberly nodded, looking at me curiously before moving to take the seat that Olivea had once occupied. I escorted April, who still appeared scared, funnily enough, to the empty chair next to Lady Isla Harlent, who took April's hands as she sat and spoke soothingly to her.

Emily was looking at me uneasily as I strode back to help her find a seat. She clutched my arm and whispered, "I really am so sorry. I didn't mean to do that. I hope you'll still give me a chance."

"What do you mean?" I asked, lowering my voice. "I'm not going to eliminate you over a broken bowl. My parents have broken plenty of bowls on accident, and so have I. That doesn't stop you from picking the person you love."

Emily stared at me, her mouth wide open. "Goodness, Your Highness," she breathed. "I hope I do right by you. That was moving."

The other girls were staring, so I moved away quickly, pondering what I'd just said, hoping I'd be able to find the person that I'd get to break bowls with for the rest of my life. As I returned to my own place at the head table, I didn't even realize that I'd completely forgotten about the gummy worms.


	6. Chapter 6

I was ready for my date with Alison. Then, I'd spend the evening with Isla. Sometime after that I'd throw a party for all the girls to do together where I could see them interacting with other people. I had it all mapped out. Alison and I would take a walk around the gardens. Isla would accompany me to the indoor pool that had been added a couple years ago at my mother's whim. She loved swimming and was sick of traveling all the way to Honduragua in the winter to find warm water. Now, it was the perfect temperature year round, and connected to our outside pool that we kept empty in the cooler months. It was cooler out at night, so I figured Isla wouldn't mind the indoor pool, especially since there was still glass walls and a glass roof where we could look outside.

Alison was barefoot when her maid answered the door. Two other maids holding shoes were standing near her as she sat on the bed, waiting for me. She smiled as I entered.

"Your Highness," she bowed her head. "I wasn't sure what shoes to wear, so don't think I'm rude for not standing up," she joked. "Am I supposed to wear heels 'round the clock here? Or should I wear something better for walking?"

"Um," I considered, good naturedly. "I hadn't thought of that. Whatever makes you comfortable. I was only hoping to take a walk in the gardens. If you'd prefer heels, we can stick to the stone pathways."

Alison shrugged. "It's not a big deal if I wear sneakers with a dress."

"Don't let the cameras catch you like that," I teased. She laughed and took the sneakers from the maid on her left, who had curly red hair that stuck out in a few stray hands from underneath her maid's cap. The maid squeaked when she saw me looking at her and knelt quickly to help Alison tie the shoes.

All three maids watched as I offered my arm to Alison and escorted her out the door. I raised my eyebrows as the door shut quickly.

"Your maids are afraid of me?" I asked. Alison rolled her eyes.

"No, they're just afraid of attention. It took them a while to warm up to me actually talking to them. Most of the time people just ignore them. I try to befriend them. They're pretty interesting and nice. And when you get to know them, they get to know you, and they'll draw you a bath without you having to ask because they just know you need one," she explained with a shrug.

"That makes sense," I replied. "My butler, Max, he's new. But before him, I was really close with my butler Sloan. I never really thought of it as a strategy, he'd just see me when I came back really upset and I'd talk to him about it and he was a good friend. You don't make a lot of friends when you don't leave the palace, so it's cool to be friends with your maids or your butler."

"Absolutely!" Alison said, widening her eyes. "I guess I'm only getting a taste of what you experience, never leaving and all that, but I can't imagine growing up not surrounded by people my age. You just had siblings, didn't you?"

I shrugged. "When I was younger, I would get to spend time with people my age when my parents encouraged me to do sports or things like that, and there's always the royal families of other countries, so it wasn't too bad. I'm really close with my family, though."

We'd reached the front doors. Two guards opened them, bowing us out, and Alison looked around at the gardens. She had to have seen them when she'd first arrived, but it had been such a busy day, as I remembered, that I doubted she'd stopped to look. Now, turning her head side to side to take it all in, Alison was awestruck as she looked at the gardens.

Dad was really fond of the gardens. He'd made them his project, helping to design them a couple years after he'd become prince consort. He'd passed the love onto Lucy, and they worked with the gardeners to make them as beautiful and impressive as anything could be in Illea.

We walked through a curtain of ivy to the shade garden, which was full of hostas and large trees. There were a couple fountains and marble benches dotted around, but it was mostly just a thin stone pathway winding through the moss and greenery.

"There's something I have to tell you," Alison said, frowning.

"Go ahead," I replied, my expression equaling hers. I didn't spend all that much time with girls, but that didn't sound good.

"I'm not here to fall in love with you," Alison admitted. "I'd really like to be your friend, but I don't want to fall in love with you." I stopped walking and turned to give her a piercing stare. "I mean," she continued quickly, "you have your hands full with all the other girls vying for your attention. I didn't really expect to be picked when I filled out the form, and it was only after I'd filled it out that I realized I don't actually think I'm ready to fall in love. So I was thinking, maybe some good can still come from this. I can tell you about what's happening with the Selected when you're not around. Who's sabotaging the other girls, who's only out for your title. Things like that."

I didn't speak for a beat. I mulled it over in my head. Grandma had initially wanted to just be Grandpa's "friend" in the beginning of his Selection, I knew. She'd been heartbroken over another man, someone who I'd never met since he'd passed away when I was very young. But she'd still fallen in love with Grandpa, and he'd fallen in love with her first. Was this Alison's strategy? Pretend to not be interested so that I'd spend more time with her, and then change her mind and start fighting for me?

Or was she proposing a good idea? I wanted to weed out anyone not here for me. Anyone looking for the title only I wanted gone. This was my shot at finding a wife. If Alison really could give me information, then this wasn't a bad idea.

"Ok," I said slowly. "I like that idea. You might not sway me on some cases, but if there's someone not here for me, or someone who is fighting too hard, then yes, I'd like to know." Alison breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good," she said. "Because I already have a couple. There's some girls who are friends because they're not that interested in you. They're a couple of the girls from the younger side of the age range, and they're a little too obsessed with the idea of being princesses."

I relaxed into the conversation once again. She was easy to talk to, but now that I knew she wasn't interested in being my wife, I started to see her as a friend and I didn't look for anything romantic about her. The girls that she warned me about, I made a mental note to pay attention to so that I could determine for myself if I agreed with her. Then, I'd send a few home if she was right. This friendship could be beneficial, I realized.

The date- though it was no longer much of a date- passed quickly, and soon I realized I had to get back to the palace to prepare for my time with Isla. There were a few things I wanted to address in preparation before lunch, and then I had lessons in the afternoon until dinner. It was going to be busy, and I didn't want to be late.

Alison thanked me for my time as I walked her to her room, and I was happy to know that I'd enjoyed it. It felt good to have a friend amongst all the chaos of the Selection.

I notified my butler about my ideas for the evening's date, and Max gave me a reassuring pat on the back as he set off, leaving me in my room alone until lunch. It was comforting to take a break and throw some darts at my dartboard, something I liked to do to clear my mind.

At lunch, most of the Selected were already seated when I arrived. I caught Alison's eye and she raised her eyebrows, inclining her head toward one of the girls at her table, whom she'd mentioned earlier. The girl was Tamara Olson, a sixteen year old from Sumner. She was barely restraining herself from diving into the food as the Selected stood to curtsy to me. I saw her eyes flicker to the plate of chicken and mozzarella sandwiches.

As I took my seat, so did the rest of the girls, and the remaining Selected filtered in through the doors. No one was late this time. Tamara reached immediately for the sandwiches. I smiled in amusement.

"Lady Tamara," I called out. She dropped the sandwich, startled, and looked up at me, plastering a big smile onto her face.

"Your Highness," she said.

"How are you enjoying the food here?" I asked. "You seem to particularly enjoy the sandwiches."

She blushed. "The food is exquisite. My family at home is very focused on eating diverse foods, so I don't get to eat sandwiches much. They're common to just about every family except mine."

After I'd turned away, I saw the girl next to her, Collette Nolans, nudge her, and the two subtly squealed at one another. I could see what Alison had said about them being the younger end of the age range.

"Dad," I muttered from the corner of my mouth, leaning over to him. "Can we dismiss Lady Tamara and Lady Collette after lunch?" He nodded.

After lunch, I joined Lucy and Zaire for lessons. We only had one tutor, since the three of us had chosen a while ago to study independently and just needed someone to oversee everything. Caroline had her own, as she was younger, and spent her lesson time in a different room because she was easily distracted.

Lucy curled up in an armchair with pages upon pages of budget reports from old Kings and Queens. Her hair was down and it fell in her face a few times before she stuffed it behind her ears. Zaire was frowning over a math book, and every so often would tear off a sheet of notebook paper and crumple it up in frustration.

I was having trouble focusing on my history book. I kept rereading everything because I'd realize I'd read a page and had no idea what it had said. At some point when I reached August Illea's rise to power, I slammed it shut. I hated reading about how our government had been formed on such an awful man's ideals. I also hated that I was descended from him.

Zaire looked up from his math and followed suit in slamming his book shut, one-upping me by shoving all his papers off his desk and onto the floor. I chuckled at both of our frustrations. Lucy either didn't notice or didn't care-she was too engrossed. Our tutor had left the room to go assist Caroline's teacher.

"How're the girls?" Zaire asked casually. I could tell he was honestly curious. Just as Lucy didn't share anything about her suitor with me, I hadn't shared anything with Zaire about the Selected. He'd kept to himself, refraining from jokes at what I assumed was my mother's request, though he probably had made part of the choice himself, or he would've ignored my mother.

"Confusing," I sighed. "One of them just wants to be my friend, she said." Zaire laughed.

"Pulling a Grandma?" he asked.

"I don't know. Maybe. She could mean it," I said.

"Any more dates planned?" he wondered.

"I was going swimming after dinner."

"Don't streak."

"Thanks, Zaire. I'll keep that in mind."

"I won't. That's an image I don't want in my head."

As Zaire turned to look at me, I burst out laughing but stifled it quickly as our tutor returned to the room. He noticed Zaire's papers on the floor but didn't say anything. My brother and I returned to work, both holding back grins, the time finally starting to pass a little faster.

I kept my head down through most of dinner, nervously awaiting my next date. At some point I looked up and caught Alison's eye again. She nodded approvingly at the fact that I'd eliminated Tamara and Collette on her recommendation. Isabella and a few of the other Selected smiled at me. I tried to catch Amberly's eye as well, but she was quiet and focused solely on her meal, not even speaking to those at her table. I dismissed the idea of asking her what was wrong later, figuring it was private and not sure I knew her well enough.

After dinner, I raced to my room to change into my swim trunks. They were a plain navy blue, but I didn't want to stand out at the pool. The sun hadn't set yet, so I threw on a t-shirt and walked to Lady Isla's room.

Her maids opened the door and I could see her standing a few feet behind them wearing flip flops and a green towel halter dress as a coverup. She gave me a bright, toothy grin and took my arm.

Max had pulled through for me, as I'd asked. He'd asked the chefs to set up an array of fruits and chocolate on a tray, and someone had lined the edges of the pool with twinkling christmas lights, which I supposed was the next best thing to the lanterns I had asked for. Even on short notice, the room looked amazing. The sun was close to the horizon, as could be seen through the perfect view that opened up past the glass walls and the outdoor pool.

I walked over to a couple of beach chairs with Isla, pulling off my t-shirt and laying it on one of the chairs. Isla paused.

"There's something I should tell you," she said, hesitantly.

I froze. Oh no, not again. Twice in one day? Something bad was coming, I knew it. Was she not interested in me either? Did she want to go home? What was she about to say?

"What is it?" I asked, my voice much calmer than my thoughts.

"I have a lot of bruises," she blurted. "On my stomach. They're healing. But they're there." She looked me in the eye while she was talking, like she was trying to appear as confident as possible. "I'm not ashamed of them, and I'm not afraid of them. I am not going to hide them from you. But you should know how I got them."

Immediately, I was ashamed at myself for having been so selfish to worry that she was about to say she wasn't interested in me. It wasn't about me at all- it was much more important than that.

"My step-dad's abusive. I'm not here to get away from him, that's not why I signed up for this crazy Selection, but it's nice being away from him. I could technically leave home at any time, I'm old enough, but I stick around for my sister, since she's got a year or two left before she can leave." Isla paused again to take a breath and closed her eyes as she said the last bit of her explanation. "I send the money from the Selection to her, to save up for when we can finally leave."

Isla stopped, and that was the last of it. I didn't want to pry, considering she'd obviously prepared herself to say that much. Her breaths were a little quick, but she'd also squared her shoulders like a warrior.

"Ok," I said. "Thanks for telling me." I turned to look at the sun, which was beginning to set. "Come on. I wanted you to see the sunset from here. It looks amazing."

I kicked off my shoes and Isla, after hesitating a brief moment, pulled off her cover-up to reveal a pretty royal blue bikini and many mottled bruises on her skin to match. Some were healing already, green and yellow, but most were fresh purple, like she'd received them right before leaving. It struck me that I might have been the cause of some of them, that her step-father might have hit her because she was leaving for the Selection, for me.

I took her hand, and we both sat at the edge of the pool, our legs dangling in the water, and watched the sun dip below the horizon, the trees and sky lit with an array of incredible colors. Isla leaned into me, and I put an arm around her shoulders. Once the night sky had darkened to an inky black, she turned to me and pulled me roughly into the water, giggling as I came up spluttering.

"Come on, float on your back and let's look at the stars," she said, kicking her legs up and waving them around a bit to steady herself in the water as she floated. I leaned onto my back, noticing that, in the glass roof, our image was slightly reflected if you looked hard enough. We looked like a funny picture, floating on our backs and staring at the sky, but it wasn't a bad funny. It wasn't a bad funny at all.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: This is such a long chapter! I didn't want to split it into two because I really wanted to keep the event all in one spot. The next chapter will include the Report, and hopefully I can get to the next date! Thank you to everyone who has been reading and reviewing!**

Walking around the room, I surveyed the setup. People were still adding tweaks to the chair arrangements and the plastic chips stacked on the table. There was a banquet table with food, and the lights had been dimmed. A couple butlers were dressed in suits to be the card dealers.

It had been Isla's idea. We'd been discussing the Selection lightheartedly, comparing notes on what was the difference between being the Prince and being a Daughter of Illea. I would've thought she'd be uncomfortable talking about the other girls trying to date me, but she found it all amusing.

"How on earth are you going to find the time to date twenty-six women? They're all fighting left and right to score a date with you, you know," she'd told me. "I don't know what would happen if you saw someone twice when another girl hadn't spent time with you once."

"I don't know how to get to everyone," I'd responded. "The first few, I just picked because they were interesting." I'd glanced at her when I said that, but she didn't react. "It'll get easier when I narrow it down, but I don't know how to narrow it down."

"Why don't you do a competition to appease the girls?" Isla had said suddenly, bouncing in the water, excited about her idea. "You know, something where you can go around talking to all of them while they're competing, and then the winner gets a date with you. That way, some of the girls who feel like they're being ignored can have a conversation with you, and then you also get a date out of it." I nodded in agreement, and her face lit up again with a fresh idea. "And the loser could be another elimination! But," she paused, thinking hard, "you don't want that to be known because it'll look weird if someone you actually like loses and you decide not to eliminate her. So you can just decide to eliminate the loser if you want to."

"What type of competition could I talk to the girls while they're playing?" I'd asked.

"I don't know, bean bag toss?" Isla had giggled. "No, what about cards? You could set up tables of six and five people each. Then there would be four winners, and they'd play a last round for the ultimate winner, who would get the date. And you could go in between the tables, helping girls with their cards. Some of them would find that really romantic. The first people to drop out at each table would 'lose' and play another round together. And you could have other fun prizes, like the winners and runner-ups could send home treats to their families. And the losers could get funny punishments, like wearing baggy clothes instead of dresses for a day. Oh, I love it! Do you?" She'd clasped her hands together. Not only was it a good idea, but her enthusiasm was impossible to say no to.

So that what was had landed me here, wearing a bow tie to get into the theme of the night, nervous about spending time with all the girls at once. I'd asked Zaire for help on some of the details, and he said to deck the place out like it was a poker game, but actually have the girls play spoons. I'd laughed at the time- "Spoons? Like the game we played as kids where you try to get four of a kind and then take a spoon from the center of the table?"- but he'd reassured me that everyone would love it- "Well, don't forget how if one person takes a spoon, everyone has to, and then everyone's diving and fighting to make sure they're not the only person left without one. Make the girls get out of their bubbles."

We'd determined that, to make the games last longer, every time a girl didn't get a 'spoon' from the round, she'd receive a tally, and at the end of the time limit, the girl at each table with the least tallies was the loser, and the girl with the most was the winner. There would be tiebreaker rounds if necessary.

The only member of my family with me was Zaire. Mom and Dad thought Caroline was too young to be around that many girls and opted to stay with her, and Lucy had excused herself as well. Zaire didn't have any issues joining me, and I was relieved I'd have someone to back me up for the night.

In groups, the girls started to arrive. I wasn't sure if I was relieved that the girls were befriending each other, or if I was intimidated. April Capheim stuck to Emily like glue; the two were the first to walk in. A group of four that included Amberly, Alison and Isla strolled in next. Isla was beaming and gave me a big, excited thumbs up. Amberly waved at me.

Everyone had dressed up in the spirit of the night. They'd channelled old-fashioned style dresses to match the ancient poker theme, wearing 1900s and 2000s Vegas dresses. It looked like Hope had given them plenty of information on the styles to wear, and there was a big variety. Most of the girls were dressed as flapper girls, while a couple opted for dresses from a later decade that were more elegant and flashier.

Isabella wore a white dress with a deep v-neck and a skirt that flared out when she turned, her blonde hair was curled to her shoulders, and she had on red lipstick. It was a classic look. I wasn't surprised to see Alison, Amberly, Isla and Atlantis- a mysterious girl that didn't show many emotions- dressed in very similar silver flapper dresses and different colored headpieces, standing together, very intimidating. Emily was striking in what seemed to be a play on a typical suit, wearing a very short, pinstriped dress with short sleeves and a loose tie around her neck, paired with her signature red lipstick and a pair of strappy black stilettos. Next to her, tiny April was dwarfed in her cowboy boots and ruffled black and purple saloon dress.

The one who surprised me the most was Zola Gorges. She had on a long, elegant black dress with cinched sleeves, feathers were adorned in her hair, and she wore gold earrings that looked like a chain of hoops dangling from her ears. It was much different from what the rest of the girls had leaned toward, and it stood out as she looked around the room in awe.

The girls quickly found their seats. There were only four tables, but I'd tried to arrange the seating so that I could spend time with those I hadn't yet at every table. Thankfully, Alison hadn't sat down yet and was talking quietly to Isla in a corner, waiting for the last of the Selected to arrive.

I strolled over to her, and she whispered something in Isla's ear. Isla smiled at me and excused herself as soon as I reached them.

"Ok, Alison," I sighed, looking around at the girls. "What do you recommend?"

She surveyed the room, looking at each table. "You've spent time with Isla, Isabella and me, so try to steer clear of talking to us for too long when you could be getting to know the others. Atlantis and Amberly are both really nice- it was Amberly's idea to coordinate our dresses tonight. Don't talk to Emily or April, since none of the girls like them." I frowned at this, but she didn't notice, continuing on with, "All of the girls at my table are pretty worthless, I have to admit. You could send them all home and I wouldn't care."

The last girl entered the room, so Alison hurried off to her table as the games began. The dealers at each table quickly explained the rules, set out the spoons, which were the cheap kinds and not our fancy silverware, and soon the girls started to get into the game, still trying not to make too much noise but banging on the table as they reached desperately for their silver utensil.

I sat down in an empty chair beside Zola and a girl named Piper. Piper smiled at me but Zola was focused on her hand of cards. I leaned over to look. She had three queen's and was frantically flipping through the cards passed to her to find the last one. Some of the others had the strategy to not focus on their hand at all, staring at the spoons in the middle of the circular table, just waiting for someone to pick one up.

At last, Zola found her queen and snatched a spoon triumphantly. There was a flurry of movement and Piper realized much too late that all the spoons were gone. She groaned. I wondered how she hadn't noticed they were being taken- it was quite obvious. I turned to look at Zola again, but she still hadn't looked in my direction.

"You're very good at this," I remarked so only she could hear. Zola jumped slightly and turned her head, eyes startled.

"Th-thanks," she stuttered. "I mean, it's a pretty simple game. All you do is look for cards, really, and make sure you're not the last."

"Well, out of all six girls, you did get four of a kind first," I said.

"I suppose," she relented, still looking a little shocked that she was talking to me.

"Then, I guess you don't need my help," I joked, looking around the table at the other five girls staring uncomfortably at us while the dealer shuffled.

"Help?" Zola laughed, her stiff shoulders loosening up a bit. "I bet I'd beat you," she challenged. I grinned.

"I'll remember that," I said, lowering my voice and looking around. "Who here do you think really does need my help?"

Zola surveyed the table and whispered, "Piper. She's never played before."

I leaned over to Piper, who was staring at her new cards that had been dealt. She had a six, a jack, a two and a five. She frowned at them, then looked at me.

"Hi, Your Highness," she said. "Come to help?"

I shrugged. "Sure. I'll watch the spoons and you watch the cards." She nodded. As the game began, her brow furrowed in concentration as she focused on the cards, eventually finding a second five and discarding her two. It might have been bad luck, or another girl might have been looking for the same set of cards, but she soon found herself stuck in a rut, unable to find any more of the cards she was looking for.

The game was short-lived, Zola once again sneaking out the first spoon smugly, and the rest of the girls following suit. Not to let Piper down, in a split second I threw myself onto the table, scattering cards and people everywhere, and Carmella Reyes pulled her hand back with a bit of a yelp, and I triumphantly held up the last spoon. I held it out to Piper, and she took it delicately, stunned.

Zola burst out laughing. Having taken the first spoon, she'd gotten to watch the whole ordeal from a prime seat. Isla giggled, and Carmella Reyes joined in good-naturedly, not at all concerned that she'd just lost the round, and soon the whole table was roaring with laughter.

I excused myself, my cheeks a little red, once that laughter had died down, but as I walked away I saw the girls open up a little more into the game in the next round. They started chatting and trash talking, and Piper made a teasing complaint that someone was purposefully withholding cards from her. Before I chose another table, I waited to see how the round would end. Carmella Reyes got the first spoon, but since Zola had faked a grab for a spoon a little earlier, it took a moment for people to notice, and she watched as they scrambled for the remaining ones. Unsurprisingly, Piper lost, having trouble focusing both on the cards and the table at the same time. Her shoulders slumped, but she jumped right back into the next round.

At the next table, I drew up a chair in between Keegan Prusifski and Atlantis Collins. Atlantis held a straight face as she passed the cards, but the focus and intensity was visible in Keegan's expression as she searched for her last ace of diamonds. Before she could find it, however, Isabella's hand darted out and took the first spoon and there was a sudden flurry of activity as the rest of the table tried to steal safety. Keegan found herself holding the same spoon as April Capheim, the small girl who cried a lot, and with a determined tug she pulled it smartly away from her opponent. April's face crumpled, realizing she had just lost, but Keegan celebrated.

"Winner, winner, chicken dinner," she sang, doing a little dance and turning to face me. "Your Highness, come to join us?" Keegan had fiery red hair that matched her strong personality, but I could almost remember that in her picture it had been more strawberry blonde. She had probably died it during the makeovers. I raised my eyebrows at her invitation, but she grabbed my arm and pulled me closer to the table.

"Ladies, are we all in agreement that His Royal Highness, Prince Ashton, is very royally required to play a game of Spoons with his humble Selected?" she announced in mock seriousness, and I joined in the laughter that chorused. She turned and looked at me, satisfied. "See? There's nothing you can do about it now. It's been decreed."

I relented, allowing the dealer to add an extra spoon on the table and deal me four cards. "You realize this means I am now your enemy at this table," I told Keegan. She shrugged, tossing her hair over her shoulder. She'd dressed in a short, silver bodycon halter dress that caught the light every time she moved, and she was wearing it confidently. I noticed that she'd kicked off her heels so that she could jump for spoons without difficulty. Very competitive, very confident, I mused. Keegan was certainly interesting.

I wasn't too bad at the game. Multi-tasking was something I was used to, so looking at cards to find four-of-a-kind while watching the table to make sure no one had grabbed a spoon wasn't too hard. What got me was when Keegan sneaked her hand out to the middle of the table discreetly, and I dived, thinking she was grabbing a spoon. Too late, I turned to see her snickering and realized she'd faked me out, and I was out of the game. As it continued, I realized she'd pulled this trick or more on the rest of the girls, and I checked the dealers scoreboard to see that she had lost none of the rounds so far.

About half the time had passed, I realized, so I soon moved on to the third table, where Emily and Amberly were playing. Despite Alison's warning not to talk to Emily, I sat in between her and Greece Ladely. I checked the dealer's score sheet, and it looked like Emily was tied with Virginia with no tallies, and the rest of the girls had an even mix.

"Hello, ladies, mind if I sit?" I asked. They all smiled at me, the dealer passing out the last few cards.

"Hey, deal some cards for Prince Ashton," Greece Ladely piped up, grinning at me. "We saw you playing at the other table. Get ready to be crushed by Virginia and Emily, they're incredible at this game!"

I rolled my eyes. "I'm ready to be crushed by all of you, since I am far from good." I checked my hand, and was surprised to see that I'd been lucky enough to get three seven's already. I was only missing the seven of spades.

The game began, the girls passing cards clockwise. I couldn't find my seven, but no one had taken a spoon after a minute or two had passed. I looked through a jack, a two, a nine, another jack, an ace, a three… Was that a seven? No, just a four-

"Oh come on, Keegan! That's so obviously cheating!" someone cried. Everyone at the table froze. "Seriously? That's MY spoon! Give it to me!" I set my cards down and turned my head. Keegan was still sitting in her chair at her table, breathlessly holding a spoon, her straight red hair slightly messy. Katherine Immens from Columbia, who I remembered had been losing to April by a narrow margin, was standing in front of Keegan with her arms crossed angrily. April Capheim was watching them with terror on her face, and there were a couple cards on the floor from when Atlantis had scrambled to move out of Katherine's way.

I strode over to the girls quickly, determined to diffuse the situation as fast as possible. Zaire leapt up, too, from the seat I'd vacated at the first table in between Piper and Zola, and ran over to join me.

"Lady Katherine, Lady Keegan," I said smoothly, spreading my hands apart warmly. "Can I help you girls?"

"No, Your Highness, I suppose there's not much you can do," Katherine snapped, her ears and cheeks beet red. "Since you saw her take that spoon from April when you were at the table, and that didn't bother you. In case you didn't know, it's considered cheating to take a spoon that someone else is already holding." She bobbed her head defiantly.

"I'm well aware of the rules," I said calmly. "However, considering April and Keegan had both grabbed the spoon at the same time and no one was hurt, I didn't see any reason to interrupt the spirit of the game. It is a game, after all," I added, fixing her with a determined look that I hoped would make me look princely and intimidating.

Katherine took a deep, shaky breath. "You're absolutely right, Prince Ashton. However, since Keegan has continued in the same… _Manner_ as she did before, it's become a very rough game. I'm sure it would be more enjoyable if she toned it down." Katherine frowned at Keegan, who stood shakily, clasping her hands in front of her.

"You have my sincerest apologies, Katherine," Keegan began, but I held up a hand to her to cut her off.

"Lady Katherine," I said quietly, "perhaps it would be best if you excused yourself." I switched my expression to a more neutral look, aware that everyone was watching. I glanced fervently at Zaire, who nodded at me and firmly escorted Katherine from the room. Once the door closed, I sighed and turned to start damage control.

"Keegan, are you alright?" I asked her. She nodded.

"I'm so sorry, Your Highness," she said. "I didn't mean to cause any issues, I didn't know she was getting upset."

"I think it's alright to call me Ashton, considering the circumstances," I said, smiling to diffuse the tension. She nodded, blinking.

"Ladies," I turned to Keegan's table. "I am so sorry for this unfortunate turn of events." I shook my head, exasperated. "I really hope we can still continue the night without the mood being too dampened. If there are any further issues, I trust you can address them appropriately." Giving Keegan's shoulder a reassuring squeeze before moving away to address the other tables.

The game picked up again, slowly, at each table. Everyone was much more subdued, but there was nothing I could do about it. I returned to my seat between Greece and Emily. This time, I opted to be a cheerleader for the girls rather than join in. I walked around the table, looking at everyone's cards and supporting them.

When Emily snatched up the first spoon, my first response was to join in on the frantic attempts to grab a spoon. When I held one up triumphantly, Amberly and Aquata looked at each other in confusion, both empty-handed.

"Ashton!" Amberly shrieked, pushing her chair back. With an 'oof!' I stumbled back as she tackled me for the spoon. I caught her around the waist, holding the spoon out, and she lunged for it. Finally, I let her steal it, laughing.

The girls at Amberly's table were laughing, Aquata looking a little surprised that Amberly had gone that far for a spoon, but the other three tables were full of blank stares. Amberly backed away, blushing, and hurriedly returned to her seat. I smoothed my suit and smiled, glancing at the time, which was about to run out.

"Dealers," I called, "it looks like we are out of time. The ladies will be competing for first place and the runner up prizes. Who from each table had the least tallies?" The four dealers brought their sheets to me while maids rushed over to set up the spectators chairs and the table for the final four girls.

I surveyed the sheets. Unsurprisingly, Keegan and Zola had the least tallies from their tables. Emily won from the table I'd just been sitting at, beating out Virginia by a tally, and Alison had triumphantly remained free from any tallies at all from her table, which I realized I'd forgotten to visit. Looking over the girls, however, I didn't feel too bad, since there weren't many interesting ones there.

I also looked at the losers on the score sheets. Since Katherine had been escorted out, there was no doubt in my mind that she would be eliminated, but the loser at the table had been Faith, a girl whom I'd never paid much attention to. Piper, Aquata and Sophie had also lost. They were convenient eliminations to make, but I thought I'd wait to tell them until after _The Report_ the following evening.

"Well, it looks like our finalists are Keegan, Zola, Alison and Emily. Ladies, are you ready for a showdown?" I asked. The girls narrowed their eyes at each other comically.

"This round will be a little different. Instead of getting a tally if you miss the spoon, you will simply be out of the game. For the last two girls, there will be one spoon. Everyone else, take your seats! This will be interesting, I'm sure." With that, I walked over to one of the chairs that had been set up in a circle around the table and sat down.

The girls seemed hesitant to sit by me, but Atlantis was bold and she and Amberly took chairs on my left, Amberly looking away from me, embarrassed. Isla soon joined them. They were becoming a very obvious friend clique amongst the others. Carmella sat on my right, giving me a hesitant look before I waved for her to sit down.

The game began. Isla and Atlantis broke the ice by cheering for Alison, but I wasn't surprised that Alison wasn't playing hard. She wasn't interested in winning a date with me, but probably wanted to send home some bakery items to her family. Keegan and Emily were working as hard as ever, and Zola was taking her time passing the cards, but still focused hard on the round.

In an instant, Zola's hand reached out and took a spoon, and Keegan and Emily followed. Alison's supporters groaned, and the rest of the girls clapped their hands and cheered for their friends. Alison shrugged and left the table, and the dealer reshuffled the cards.

Carmella leaned over and asked, "Who do you think will win?"

I shrugged, considering. "I don't know. Keegan and Emily are pretty vicious, but I watched Zola play and she was very good. What do you think?"

Carmella nodded, "Definitely Zola. At one point after you left the table, she dropped a card right before someone took a spoon and basically dove from the floor to keep from getting a tally. It was impressive. Piper lost that one, naturally." She wrinkled her nose. Piper had gotten a lot of tallies compared to the other girls.

I laughed. "Keegan faced off with April when they both grabbed a spoon, so it might come down to her and Zola."

It didn't. Keegan was eliminated in the next round when Emily grabbed the first spoon and Zola followed. She sighed, but seeing my sympathetic face, she joined Alison with an easy grin. Now that it was down to Zola and Emily, I had no doubt that Zola would win. She flashed through the cards like a cheetah, eyes barely skimming. After what felt like the longest round yet, she picked up the silver spoon and leapt out of her chair, holding it out in delight. Emily sighed and leaned back into her chair, exhausted.

Carmella shrugged at me. "I told you," she said.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: I'm sorry for such a long delay! I have been very busy, but I promise to continue updating! More soon.**

Of course, I sent Katherine home the next morning. She left with a few tears and pink cheeks, but I felt no remorse. She'd embarrassed me in front of the Selected and she'd caused an unnecessary scene over a silly game. A few of the girls said farewell to her as she walked out the doors, but most watched secretly through minisculely cracked doorways. Her elimination had been the first single, prominent one so far, and we still hadn't even reached the girls' first _Report_. They'd been excluded from any prior interviews, but now they were all appearing live in just a few short hours. I'd already eliminated ten girls, and there were now only twenty-five left. To me, that was still an enormously overwhelming number, but to the girls it meant drawing closer and closer to the Elite.

I didn't see any of the girls that day, which was a relief. They were all with Hope, cramming in a last lesson on public appearance before they appeared live, and after that they'd be spending the last bit of time after dinner in their rooms with their maids, dressing for the report. The maids had been told to keep it simple- as we hadn't had an occasion for the girls to dress up, yet, except for the costumes from the card tournament, my parents didn't want a live show to be the first place for the girls to try on fancy dresses. Especially if they tried to outdo one another, which I personally felt would be another embarrassing reason to send someone else home. I was starting to feel a little frustrated with being treated like a prize. This was _my_ Selection, after all, wasn't it? Then why did I feel like I had no control over the girls fighting for me?

Dinner came way too soon, and I made small talk with some of the Selected. While almost everyone had relaxed after Katherine's immature outburst, I still felt on edge. I couldn't pick a wife who would act so rashly, and I was scared the other girls would turn out like Katherine. Luckily for me, it appeared everyone was eager to finish their meals fast, and the room emptied out in a timely manner. The Selected rushed off to shed their casual day dresses for the gowns their maids had been sewing all week. Mom laughed a bit at their antsiness as they all left the dining hall.

"If they're excited now, just wait until we bring in Hale," she confided in me. Hale was a close friend of the family and who Mom always turned to when she needed extra special designs. He had been in her Selection, and she still kept in touch with him regularly, and her endorsement combined with his skill had easily made him one of the most famous designers in Illea. I guessed that Mom was waiting for the right event to treat both Hale and the Selected to his incredible designs. That, and she probably wanted to pool of girls to narrow.

I excused myself as well, kissing Caroline on the forehead as she squealed about what the girls would say about me on _The Report_. She wished it would be romantic. I only hoped it would be over fast. Lucy followed me up the stairs and paused at the door to my room as I entered.

"Ash?" she asked. I turned my head as Bryce- who, as it seemed, had returned from the vacation I hadn't known he was taking to replace Max as my butler- appeared with his arms full of clothes for the night. "I haven't told Mom and Dad, yet, but I think I'm going to say yes to Alexander."

"You're going to marry him?" I said incredulously. "Already?"

Lucy tilted her head, giving me that older-sister smile she was so good at. "I think you know it's not as soon as it looks."

So I had been right. She'd been seeing Alexander from Swendway for longer than she'd let on. And now she was going to marry him! He'd obviously move into the castle- he'd be Prince after they married, and eventually when Mom and Dad stepped down for Lucy, he'd take his place next to the Queen as King or Prince Consort or whatever it was these days. As if I didn't have to worry about the twenty-five Selected, but now I had to think about a brother-in-law!

"I don't want to steal your limelight," Lucy said softly, reading my expression incorrectly. I didn't care about the attention, I cared about the overwhelming change in my life. "I was planning on asking Alexander to come visit, and then we'd make the announcement once the Selection has been narrowed down and there's a little less chaos at home."

I shook out of my thoughts. "Congratulations, sis," I said, moving toward her to take her hands and beaming. "That's really awesome! I can't wait to see Alexander, he was so fun when he last visited. Tell you what," I paused, my mind racing as I tried to do my quickest thinking, "why don't you invite Alexander to join us in a month. It'll be…" Lucy rolled her eyes, knowing I never kept up with dates.

"Ash," she said kindly, "it'll be the second week of October."

My eyes lit up. "Wow, I didn't realize it was fall, already, I was just in the gardens recently and they're still in full bloom. Anyways, it doesn't matter. Push it back to five weeks. Alexander can stay here for a bit, and then we'll have a Halloween ball, like we always do at the palace. The Selected will join us, but I'm sure I'll have narrowed it down by then, and we'll invite Uncle Ahren and Kaden and Osten. It'll be a surprise engagement party. Everyone will love it.!"

Lucy looked delighted. She'd been nervous to tell me, I knew, but I was always supporting of her. She and I were the good kids in the family, and Zaire was the jokester, and Caroline was so young that she was just adorable. That's how our family worked. And Mom was the firm, strict one, and Dad was the more lenient parent. Everyone balanced each other out.

"I'll write to him now, and I'll tell Mom and Dad, but Ash-" Lucy paused, already running out the door, "don't mention the engagement. I don't want anyone to know but you." I nodded, and she ran off again, her face glowing.

Bryce shut the door and presented me with my suit for _The Report_. It was pinstriped and reminded me of Emily's pinstriped dress from the night before. I straightened my tie nervously, checked my watch, and headed out early.

I wasn't the only one to arrive early. A couple of the Selected had already taken seats in the first of the four rows that had been set up on one side of the set, save for Alison and Isla sitting in the back, and Hope was standing with a clipboard, giving the girls last-minute pointers to make sure no one did anything stupid. Most of the Selected arrived early, it seemed, and the first row filled up in seconds.

Caroline was the first of my family members to arrive, and I knew from the second she entered that she was scheming. Mom and Dad had kept a tight leash on her, not letting her near the Selected except at meals, in order to give me privacy. But without Mom and Dad in the room, Caroline made a beeline for the seats, once again wearing a dress in pink, her favorite color.

Isabella, sitting in the first row, was wearing a hot pink evening gown with a peplum top. Far from extravagant, it had few decorations, but the color stood out plenty from the rest of the girls, who had leaned toward darker colors in the hopes of pleasing my mother and not standing out too much. Caroline immediately dashed towards her, gushing about how pretty she looked.

Knowing that if I went after Caroline I would have to speak to the Selected, I stayed put, waiting until Lucy entered and dragged our little sister away from Isabella. The two took their seats by me, and in a few minutes people were calling for quiet on set.

Argus introduced Mom, Dad and Prime Minister Edwents to once again update Illea on political changes. It was all very boring, especially since Edwents had one of those monotonous voices where just listening to it made you want to fall asleep. Caroline fidgeted and Zaire tapped his foot, but Lucy paid rapt attention. It was hard to believe she really cared about such uninteresting affairs, but as the future Queen of Illea, I supposed she had to pretend it was important.

The one good part of the updates was that it had nothing to do with me, or the Selection for that matter. Unfortunately, they were cut short in an effort to give the Selected a fair amount of time to be interviewed. I held back a nervous groan, knowing it might be picked up, since I was about to be interviewed myself.

Argus walked over to me. "Now, for the man of the hour, Prince Ashton Schreave." I smiled broadly, looking at Argus casually like we were on a picnic. "Tell us, what has it been like having thirty-five women move into your house?"

I laughed. "Well, I'll be honest Argus, it has not been the easiest. I have to be early to breakfast every day to beat the crowd of hungry people, and that means I have to wake up earlier. It's just a chain reaction," I joked. A couple of the Selected tittered. Argus laughed as well, giving me a knowing look for the sake of the viewers.

"It seems you've taken the same path as your mother and grandfather. Ten girls eliminated in one week. That's a pretty big number." I shrugged at this. "How has that gone over for you?"

I paused, thinking about my answer. "Well… No one's given me any backlash yet, so I'll take it as a sign I'm doing the right thing. The girls I sent home- we just didn't have a connection. I'd be doing them a disservice to keep them here, even if the food is fantastic." Everyone on set smiled. It was a running joke on _The Report_ that the food was the best part of the palace. It had been started years ago when my Grandma had still been America Singer instead of America Schreave.

"I'm sure the rest of the Selected are very grateful to have the opportunity to taste some of that delicious palace food. And speaking of, have you spent any time with the Selected?" Argus winked, looking significantly over the the rows of straight-backed, twinkling eyed girls.

"I have, actually. There was a couple dates, and one fun night where we played cards- but I think I'll leave it to them to tell you about, Argus," I said lightly, hoping to turn the attention off of me. Talking about the Selection was becoming more and more difficult. Talking about the dates I'd been on was uncomfortable, and I definitely wasn't ready to share how I felt about them yet.

"We will certainly do that. Thanks again, Prince Ashton." Argus clapped me on the shoulder before moving over to where two chairs had been set up, one for him and one for the Selected that he would call down one by one. "Let's see," he said dramatically, surveying the girls. "Lady Zola, would you care to join us?"

Zola stood tentatively. Her evening gown was in the same cut as the black dress she'd worn the night before, but this one was dark green and decorated with ivy leaves. It gave her an unassuming look, which I figured she'd been going for.

Argus only had a few questions for her, most likely the same set he'd be asking the rest of the girls.

"Have you spent any individual time with the Prince so far?" he asked, and she shook her head.

"No, but I was lucky enough to win a date with him during our card competition last night. We played spoons, and I came out on top," she said, smiling sweetly. Argus raised his eyebrows.

"Spoons," he mused. "That's a vicious game. How'd a sweet girl like you trump the competition?"

"Not sure," Zola laughed. "But they aren't as intimidating as they look. Neither is Prince Ashton," she added, sneaking a glance at me. I was mildly impressed at her daring, and missed Argus's response, but they quickly moved on.

"What do you think of the Prince so far?" Argus asked, leaning forward like this was the question everyone wanted answered and he was listening to the juicy gossip.

"I don't know," Zola responded, shrugging her shoulders innocently. "But he's managed to impress me so far."

After that, Argus thanked her and called forward Carmella Reyes. She was dressed in a collective of dark bronze ribbons that made up her dress. She informed Argus that sadly, she had not had the opportunity to spend individual time with me, but wasn't worried, since I'd made a strong effort to meet everyone I possibly could in such a short amount of time. Carmella was rather formal on camera, I noticed, but she'd also been a bit formal off camera as well, except for during the card competition when everyone had loosened up a bit.

"And what do you think of the Prince, Lady Carmella?" Argus inquired. She smiled demurely.

"I think he's honorable," she said. "He handles everything with tact, including these unusual circumstances. We have to give him props for doing all of this," she waved her hand lightly toward the Selected, "in front of all of Illea." Carmella shot me a small smile that I returned.

After Carmella, I was interested in the rest of the girl's answers even more. Some of them had unoriginal answers- mostly the girls I hadn't spent any time with at all- following mostly around the lines of 'kind' or 'handsome' and hoped to get to know me better in the days to come. Emily Jones, ever so bold, said in a bubbly sort of voice that while she'd always assumed me to be stiff, after meeting me she'd realized that being composed was just part of being royal and that I was plenty interesting, sending my a red lipped grin on the way back to her seat. Hope looked slightly taken aback and worried that I'd be offended, clutching her clipboard tightly and sending Emily an exasperated shake of the head, which Emily didn't notice. April Capheim called me intimidating, and Isla Harlent said that I'd been thoroughly welcoming and didn't choose to elaborate further.

By the time they closed out the stream, I knew I was going to be in trouble when it came time to narrow down the pool of girls even further.


	9. Chapter 9

A few weeks later, I found myself anxiously awaiting the arrival of my family and soon-to-be brother-in-law. Alexander and my French relatives were arriving late in the day, and Uncle Osten wasn't wrangling his kids in the car until the next day, but I was more than ready to see Uncle Kaden.

I peeked behind a door, looking into entrance hall. It was empty. Uncle Kaden and Aunt Josie would be arriving in seconds and I wanted to be the first to greet them. After an agonizing ten minutes, the door cracked open and my cousin Meg stepped in.

"Meg!" I cried, running into the entrance hall. She squealed and dropped her bags, running forward to hug me.

"Ash! It's so good to see you!" she gushed. "And you'll never guess who's here!" My eyes widened and we both turned to look back at the door, where Uncle Kaden was smiling as he helped Aunt Josie step over the bags Meg had dropped in the entry way.

"Ash, it's wonderful to see you!" Josie said warmly as I made my way over to hug my aunt and uncle. "We brought a surprise. I hope that's okay!"

"What surprise?" I asked, and Josie smiled knowingly at Kaden.

"Well-" she began, but was cut off by a shriek.

"Woodwork!" my mother shouted as she came barreling through the door. I moved out of the way for her to hug her brother and sister-in-law, but she moved past them speedily in her clicking heels and was swept up in the arms of a tall, handsome man that had just stepped in the doorway. He spun her around, both of them beaming and laughing, and when they both stopped for breath, I saw her look to her brother.

"Kaden, I can't believe you didn't tell me," she scolded. "You brought Kile along?" Mom turned back to the man she'd just greeted. I gaped. He was utterly unfamiliar, but he was obviously related to Aunt Josie if his last name was Woodwork, as that was her maiden name before she became a Schreave.

"I asked them to keep it secret," Kile Woodwork joked.

I turned to Meg for an explanation. "That's my mom's brother," she whispered. "He lived at the palace with her and your mom when they were kids."

"Why hasn't anyone mentioned him before? What happened?" I wondered.

Meg shrugged. "It's not my place to say," she said. "I don't know all the details anyway. My parents wanted to stay out of the argument. I guess they resolved it recently, though, because he's staying here for the ball with us."

I stared at the man. He had his arm around Mom like they were old friends. I couldn't imagine why my parents had never told me that Aunt Josie had a brother. It seemed like something I should have known.

I cleared my thoughts by shaking my head. "Come on," I said to Meg. I bet you want to meet the girls without the adults around. Why don't you call them out of the Women's Room and we'll all go have some cake. I had the cooks make your favorite- but don't tell my parents." We both grinned mischievously at each other. Whenever Meg came to visit, we always had a secret dessert party in one of the hidden safe rooms that had been unused since my grandparents time, when there were rebels that still attacked the palace. They were still kept in stock and from time to time there would be drills to practice proper procedure, but the only times we ever went down there were during bad storms or tornadoes.

"I'll meet you there!" Meg squealed, glancing sideways at our parents and Kile as they chatted by the luggage. I offered her my arm and we snuck out of the room, taking off running the minute the door shut behind us.

I ran to my room where both Max and Bryce were cleaning. "Can you get a couple of the Selected's maids to serve tea and cake in the royal saferoom?" I asked. They stared at me, bewildered. "I know you're both new," I added, "but whenever my cousin Meg comes to visit, we have a secret dessert party. You can't tell my parents. The Selected will be joining us this time."

Max shrugged and set down the pile of papers he'd been organizing on my desk. I sprinted out of the room, my heart pumping. I was nervous about all the Selected joining me, but I knew Meg was dying to meet them. She'd sent me letter after letter since the Selection started, begging for details about every girl, every date. She'd watched all of the interviews and had already begun rooting for Keegan and Amberly, who were apparently favorites of the public. I'd been ignoring the magazine articles she'd sent me, too nervous to see what people were saying about the Selected and me, but it was inevitable that Meg would talk my ear off about everything in the tabloids.

Meg was waiting for me by the time I'd found the hidden panel in the wall and made my way down the stairs. The chefs hadn't disappointed us, laying out a huge table full of decadent desserts. My eyes wandered to the mini eclairs, my favorite, but snapped back immediately to the girl waiting beside Meg who was sweeping a deep curtsy.

"Keegan," I said, grinning. "I'm not surprised Meg invited you to accompany her first." She smiled back at me, her head high.

"I explained to the girls that they should vacate the Women's Room but arrive her slowly, so no one gets suspicious or is held back," Meg informed me, barely concealing her excitement. Even though she was fourteen, she was very tall, matching Keegan's boosted height even without heels.

"You'll get to meet a lot of my relatives soon. They're coming today and tomorrow," I told Keegan.

"I heard Prince Alexander from Swendway is visiting, too," she remarked, smiling as I grabbed a mini eclair from the table and strolling over to look at the desserts herself. "This is going to be a big ball."

"True," I said, "but I think everyone will enjoy it. I've been looking forward to it for weeks. Lucy's especially excited." I smiled to myself at the hint I'd dropped. Only my parents and I knew that this was to be Lucy's engagement party. The Selected knew it was special, since Hale Gardner was flying in today as well to help design their costumes, but no one knew why.

"I bet she can't wait to see Alexander," Meg snorted. "How long has he been courting her? They better get a move on and get married. I want to be a bridesmaid." Keegan and I laughed. I heard the sound of clicking heels and turned to see Emily and April descending the stairs, both looking very curious at the mysterious hidden room. I noticed Emily wasn't wearing her signature lipstick and April's hair was rumpled.

"Who's this?" Meg whispered. If she hadn't met them yet, they must not have been in the Women's Room.

"Emily, April!" I welcomed them. "Have some dessert! I don't suppose you've met my cousin Meg. Meg, this is Emily Jones from Labrador, and April Capheim from Zuni."

"It's amazing to meet you!" Meg shrieked, pulling both of them into a quick hug. They both laughed in surprise.

"Our maids brought us down, but they didn't explain why!" Emily cried. "What is all of this?" She looked at the desserts with wide eyes, ignoring Keegan. Keegan frowned at them, but wiped her face emotionless when she realized I was looking. April made no effort to hide her dislike of Keegan, however, and haughtily turned to look away from her.

"We host a secret dessert party in these unused saferooms whenever Meg comes to visit," I explained, taking another eclair.

Soon enough, almost all of the Selected had entered the room, as well as some of the maids I had requested. Zaire snuck down as well, whining that I hadn't informed him and he'd had to bully Amberly into telling him where she was going. He brightened up when Meg pulled him over to talk to April and Emily, so I turned to mingling with the girls.

Carmella and Zola were sitting in a corner, tentatively trying the small samples they'd thrown onto a big plate. Every time they tried something new they'd laugh and make faces.

"Ladies, might I join you?" I asked, taking a seat on the floor by them. Carmella gave me a small smile and Zola brightly picked up the plate and offered me some.

"Did you pick out all of the desserts?" Zola asked. I nodded, spotting a cream puff and dipping it in chocolate to make myself a makeshift eclair, since the plate at the dessert table was dwindling to very small amounts.

"Have you tried all of them, or are you just going for the basics?" Carmella asked, hesitantly picking up a miniature raspberry tart between to fingers. "I'll admit I've never had most of these. My parents are health nuts and hate dessert."

Swallowing, I said, "No, I haven't actually had most of the desserts. I just order the most colorful variety, and as long as there's mini eclairs I'm happy."

Zola and Carmella giggled. "Have you tried the macarons? They're amazing!" Zola told me, waving her hand over to the the plate full of assorted cookies in every color of the rainbow.

"Have I tried the macarons?" I gave her a dubious look. "You realize my cousin is the crown prince of France? And my Aunt Camille actually is the Queen of France?" I scoffed. "Have I tried macarons? Of course!" Zola blushed, laughing. Camille rolled her eyes.

"These are nothing," she smirked. "You should Swendish princess cake. It's been around for ages and is better than anything I've ever tasted. Although, I'm sure you'll get a chance to try it if Prince Alexander really is joining us for the Halloween ball."

"I'm so excited for the Halloween ball!" Zola jumped in. "I can't wait to celebrate a real ball here at the palace. And the costumes are going to be so incredible! It'll be amazing to meet Hale Gardner, too."

"He's a wonderful designer," I assured her, then excused myself to go speak with some of the other girls. I wandered back to the dessert table and snatched up the last mini eclair as I spotted Atlantis reaching for it.

"Sorry," I simpered mockingly as she drew her hand back from the empty plate slowly, "but you didn't really think you were going to eat the last of my favorite dessert, did you?" Atlantis smiled lightly.

"I could try, I suppose," she said, taking a wrapped chocolate from a crystal bowl instead, popping it into her mouth delicately. "Are you enjoying your party?"

"Immensely. And how do you like it?" I said, savoring the last of the eclair.

"I haven't decided yet. I haven't had the opportunity to speak to Princess Meg, and I'm disappointed to see that Prince Olivier hasn't arrived from France yet, but the food is wonderful," she informed me, her face passive. "It is an interesting use for the safe rooms, though. Do you never have need to use them?"

"No, never," I said, looking around. "The only use at this point is during tornadoes and extra bad storms when the guards want us underground and out of the way. The country is very peaceful, thankfully."

Atlantis gave me a curious look before drifting away to go speak with Meg. She glanced back at me, but her face was emotionless once more.

Eventually, the desserts ran thin and the party broke up, Meg sending the girls away slowly so that it wouldn't look suspicious that all of the Selected were in one corridor of the palace. She eventually nodded at me, signaling me to leave, and I invited Atlantis to take my arm and accompany me.

As we walked down the halls toward her room, we resumed our conversation about the safe rooms. "They're incredibly well hidden," Atlantis said approvingly, her eyes flitting around to look at the walls, as if searching for others.

"Only the guards know about all of them. And probably my grandparents. But the recent generations have never gone down there, and I doubt my siblings and I found all of them even during our most intense games of hide-and-seek." I laughed lightly a bit to signal I was joking, but Atlantis stayed quiet.

"It would be very interesting to find all of them," she remarked.

"I bet it wouldn't take you long, you're too clever to be fooled by hidden panels," I chimed in. She blinked at the flattery but smiled all the same.

After Atlantis had disappeared into her room, I trudged along the halls, looking at the walls and looking for the hidden panels like she had done moments before. I wondered why a girl like her was so emotionless and slow to grin. She was smart and kind, but it struck me that she might be hiding something from me. It wasn't that unlikely.


	10. Chapter 10

"I can tell there are cliques," I sighed, glancing nervously at Alison, who was absentmindedly picking blades of grass as we lounged in the garden. It had grown much colder, and most of the flowers had hidden themselves for the winter, but the grass was still as green as ever and I enjoyed my time with Alison in the garden where we gossipped happily and discussed the other girls in the Selection, something I tried to refrain from doing when on actual dates. It was weird, when you thought about it- talking about one girl you were dating whilst on a date with someone entirely different. With Alison, though, she was here just to help me clear my head.

"Well, yeah," Alison said. "There are some girls that people don't get along with well so they band together. And there's people that get along with everyone that band together, too. Emily and April, for example… They're like the losers of the group. April's super wimpy but she has an awful mean streak, and she clings to Emily because Emily is a dynamic personality. And we wouldn't dislike Emily except she says some rude things and doesn't even realize it's mean." Alison frowned at me. "Why do you even spend time with them? You ought to just send them home and everyone would be that much happier."

"I like Emily," I said, keeping my tone light but feeling my chest huff in annoyance. "She's sweet and honest. I've never seen her do anything to warrant isolation. I think you're being hard on her."

"Oh, please," Alison scoffed. "She's clueless."

"So?" I asked. "That doesn't mean she deserves to be sent home. I enjoy her company."

"Whatever," Alison shrugged reluctantly after a moment, the tension melting. "I just don't get along with her. You might connect with her more than me." I appreciated her compromise but was still aggravated at her dismissal of Emily.

"Well, who else sticks together?" I continued.

"Amberly, Atlantis, Isla and I are friends," Alison offered. "We stick together. Carmella and Zola are close. Isabella's not really close with anyone, but sometimes she speaks to us, and other times she spends time with Hailey and Greece… Hensley and Mist are a bit nasty. Mist tore another girl's dress on accident, which wasn't a big deal until she laughed and said that it looked like a pile of rags either way. Everyone avoids them."

I hadn't connected with Mist or Hensley much, but it still surprised me to hear they were so disliked. After hearing her dislike of Emily and April, however, I was beginning to put less stock in what Alison said. We parted ways soon after, when I saw the Uncle Osten's limo arrive. Alison returned to her room and I rushed to greet me little cousins.

Angelica, Ethan, Dorothy, Clement and Vincent spilled out of the limo, all five of them shouting in excitement as they ran to hug me. The palace doors opened and my siblings came tearing out to greet everyone. Osten climbed out next, smiling and helping out my very pregnant Aunt Nell. She was young and beautiful, despite the many kids she'd had, and her skin glowed with youth. Her red hair was pulled up in a clip and her shirt was stretched over her belly. I'd missed the baby shower because of the Selection and had forgotten they were expecting another kid.

Caroline and Dorothy were already giggling and running off, being the same age, but eleven-year-old Ethan was holding baby Angelica stoically, already proud to be the oldest of the lot. Lucy was quick to take baby Angelica away from him, however, and scooped up the toddler Clement as well. She adored kids. Zaire greeted Ethan with a fist bump.

My parents came strolling out of the palace quickly, greeting Osten and Nell and ushering them inside so Nell could sit down. I enticed my cousins with food to get them to follow.

"Prince Ashton!" a voice called as I stepped inside. Glancing around, I saw that it was Hailey Morris walking towards my family and me.

"Hailey," I greeted her. She looked with wide eyes at the multitude of children staring at her. Even though I had a couple siblings, they rarely interacted with the Selected at this point (except for Caroline, when she slipped through my parents' fingers) and I had more cousins than I did siblings.

"Are these your cousins?" She kneeled down to greet them. "They're all very cute. How do you do?" Dorothy giggled at being addressed so politely and curtsied for Hailey.

"They're not cute, they're monsters," Zaire informed her, watching with amusement as Caroline and Dorothy batted their eyes innocently, both excited at the attention.

"Well," Hailey continued, smiling, "would these monsters be interested in playing some board games? There's plenty in the Women's Room and the rest of us have been dying to meet all your relatives. Meg, Olivier and Mathys may also join us."

"That's a lot of boys. Are you sure we're allowed in there?" I asked over the cheering of my relatives. The Women's Room was a sanctuary, and men were only allowed in by the agreement of all the women present in the room.

"We can use an empty parlor," Lucy suggested. "Have the ladies bring the board games, and I'll summon Mathys and Olivier."

Hailey beamed and scampered off. Lucy chuckled and took Clement and Angelica, who were too young to join us, to be placed in a maid's care.

Finally, we were all set up. The twenty-one Selected, my three siblings, six cousins and I were all in a spacious parlor, some of the girls holding stacks of colorful boxes. Everyone looked to me at how to group things, so I quickly grabbed a box from Hailey's pile.

"Right," I said. "How many people can play Life?"

Isabella took the box from me. "I love this game. A good amount would be four players, so who should join me?" In an undertone, she added, "This is good for kids. Maybe one of your younger relatives?"

"Absolutely. Dorothy! Want to play Life? This is Isabella!" As Dorothy darted forward eagerly, so did Isla, a delighted look on her face.

"I adore kids!" she gushed. Another Selected- Beatrice- joined her, a sappy look on her face as she looked down at Dorothy's smiling face.

"Great,"I said, taking another box from Hailey. "What's next?" It was CandyLand, so I quickly passed it off toward Amberly to indulge me sister Caroline, glad I wasn't the one playing. When Hensley and Mist joined her, I saw Amberly and Alison exchange nervous glances, reminding me of the conversation I'd had earlier.

"Okay…" I paused. I took the last game Hailey was clutching. "Monopoly. Hold onto this, Hailey. I'll play with you and two others, if I remember the game correctly. It should be fun." Hailey beamed.

I grabbed a black box from Virginia. "Oh, I don't know what this is," I admitted, holding it up so everyone could see. "Who knows Cards Against Humanity?"

A couple girls glanced at each other, smiling, but my French cousin Mathys was the one who stepped forward. "I should this zis will be our game," he said, motioning towards his older brother Olivier. "If zeez lovely ladies would join us." April giggled, and she, Alison, Carmella and Zola accompanied the two boys to a corner of the room, looking overjoyed at their luck, though Carmella seemed a little uncomfortable. I rolled my eyes. Mathys was two years younger than me, and Olivier was two years older, so they were obviously flirting with the girls. I wondered what the game would turn out to be.

Quickly, three girls dragged Vincent into a game of Uno, Ethan and Zaire established an Operation round, and Lucy struck up her favorite game- Clue. That left me with Atlantis and Keegan, who had no doubt been waiting intentionally to join my game with Hailey. Happily, we settled down to play.

Despite growing up a prince, it was Lucy who had been educated non stop to be Queen, and I had spent countless hours during her lessons playing Monopoly with Zaire and my grandparents, which made me quite good at it. I quickly scooped up prime realty and wasted no time in beginning barters. Keegan, unsurprisingly, battled me fiercely over the railroads, withholding hers from trade and even convincing a tentative Hailey to sell to her instead of me.

"Don't send me home over this!" Hailey joked over my protests.

"You're ganging up on me!" I complained, and saw Atlantis wink at the two girls. "Oh, it's official!" I cried. "You're never getting Electric Company from me now!" She groaned good-naturedly.

"Don't you think you're overreacting?" Hailey teased. I pushed her arm playfully, and Keegan rolled the dice to progress the game.

"Excuse me, Ashton?" a voice asked. It was Amberly. "Do you think you'd like to trade places with your little sister? We've played a couple rounds of CandyLand and she's been begging to play with the girls over here."

I looked at my competitors. Hailey looked disappointed, but Keegan quickly said, "Yes, please switch, Ashton. That way I can take advantage of the little girl with no monetary awareness controlling your money and property." Even Amberly laughed, though she hadn't been playing the game, and Caroline bounded forward eagerly, finding our laughter to be a good sign.

"Alright," I consented, giving in to my little sister. "But Caroline, you are not allowed to sell the railroads under any condition, okay?" She nodded exuberantly.

As I walked away with Amberly, I looked at the pile of untouched games. "There's no way I'm playing CandyLand," I insisted, wrinkling my nose.

"Good," Amberly sighed with relief. "We let her shuffle the deck once, and she placed the winning card on top, then insisted 'youngest first!' We learned our lesson there." I laughed. That sounded like Caroline.

I looked over at my French cousins. Their group was roaring with laughter. Amberly cleared her throat, noticing my stare.

"I might be wrong," she said tentatively, "but I don't think that's your type of game, Ashton."

"Why?" I asked, frowning.

She shrugged. "You're kind of proper and classy," she said, then continued at my surprised expression, "It's been over a month and everyone describes you as nothing less than a gentleman. Your cousins, on the other hand, picked the game because their intentions were different." I blinked, understanding her implications.

Amberly spoke with admiration, so I smiled in reassurance, but there was a small part of me that wondered if the other girls thought it was a bad thing that I was, as Amberly put it, 'a gentleman.' To me, that simply meant I hadn't made a move on any of the girls. Argus had asked me in the last interview if I'd kissed any of the girls. The answer had been no. I was still too undecided about my feelings, which I'd mistakenly confided in Zaire and Lucy one day. Zaire had teased me mercilessly, but Lucy encouraged me to wait until the Elite had been chosen to kiss any of them, wisely telling me that it was best to keep the physical connection out of the way until an emotional connection had been forged, since the emotional connection would be the most unique. Zaire had scoffed and insisted it was time I 'go get some.'

"Here," Amberly said kindly, grabbing a deck of cards. "I'll teach you how to play hearts." Though she was referencing a game, I wished she'd teach me how to navigate my own heart.

I swallowed, nodding. Now wasn't the time to worry about kissing, especially with the ball approaching, and the reminders from my family that an elimination after the ball was a good idea. So, I smiled and sat down to play with the girls, determined to enjoy myself.


	11. Chapter 11

That evening, I found myself in a sleeping bag on the floor of my room, snacking on chips and downing caffeinated soda, hoping it would keep me up all night and through a good chunk of the next day before I could find the time for a nap. Zaire, Mathys and Olivier were following suit, though Zaire had snuck in a pot of coffee and was hogging it greedily. My cousins had turned down private rooms for the option of sleeping in mine, and Zaire had naturally insisted on tagging along. Normally when my cousins visited, Olivier and I haughtily ignored our younger siblings like older brothers are supposed to do, but this time the attention was all on me.

"Lady Alison is very interesting," Mathys noted, his accent having seamlessly disappeared in the absence of the Selected.

"Yes," I sighed, "but she and I agreed on being just friends."

"Lady Carmella is extremely pretty, and also kind. She took some time to get into the game, but was fun eventually," Olivier suggested.

"Wait," Mathys interjected. "We are not done discussing Alison. If you are not involved with her, perhaps I may be." He grinned impishly and his brother smacked him. "Fine, fine," Mathys relented. "I agree, then, that Carmella is a good choice."

"I like her," I admitted.

"But who are you going to eliminate?" Zaire asked. "It's been weeks since the last elimination. You might ignore the tabloids, but I don't, and the people are itching for something new."

I shrugged. "I don't know. I've heard that two of the Selected are fairly mean to the others, but I've never witnessed it myself and haven't had enough time to get to know them personally. They'd be easy options, but I don't want to follow blindly on someone else's advice."

Mathys and Zaire grinned. "We can find out for you," Mathys said. "At the ball, we can scope out the best candidate to eliminate and report back to you. That way, you can spend time with the girls you like without leaving the less interesting ones without dance partners."

Olivier rolled his eyes. "You can do that," he said, "but I will be dancing with whoever I want." We all laughed, then heard a knock at the door. I went to open it and discovered Meg holding a pillow and a sleeping bag, with Lucy behind her looking both exasperated and interested.

"We've come to join you," Meg announced. "We know you're talking about the Selected," she added, silencing the protests coming from behind me. "If you were just talking about guy things, I wouldn't bother. But Lucy and I agreed that now is the best time to weigh in on the happenings." With that, she brushed past me and set up her sleeping bag on the floor beside Olivier. I looked at Lucy, but she shrugged and walked in as well.

"I guess there's no getting rid of you," Zaire snorted, looking at Meg with both amusement and distaste. In addition to ignoring him and Mathys, Olivier and I often forced Meg on our younger brothers as well, her being the same age as them. It was just what the older siblings were supposed to do in cases like these.

"Nope," Meg said brightly, lying down on her stomach and propping her head up with her hands. "So, I've gotten to know some of the girls over the past two days, and I think they're all pretty cool."

Lucy laughed softly. "I suppose that's one way to describe them," she admitted.

"Anyway," Meg continued, shooting Lucy a patronizing look, "I've had several gossip sessions with them about you, and in exchange for finding out what they think of you, I told them about that one time in Likely when we were horseback riding and-"

"You didn't!" I cut her off. "Meg! I can't believe you shared that!"

Meg laughed. "Whatever, Ash, they'd find out eventually. And it was pretty funny." I glared at her, but she went on. "So, as I was saying, a couple of them told me what they think of you. I found out that you haven't kissed any of them yet, which is weird Ash, because you're dating them, even if Lucy thinks you're supposed to be a total gentleman. Your mom kissed someone in, like, the first week of her Selection. It's been- what- five or six weeks? Seriously, get on it. They're totally antsy, and the longer you wait, the more they're going to fight to be your first kiss. You should've seen the look on Emily's face when everyone started betting on who we thought you'd kiss first. She was soooo annoyed."

"Meg, do you ever stop talking?" Zaire groaned, throwing his pillow at her. It collided with her head, rumpling her hair, but she simply took it and placed it under her elbows with her own.

"Have fun sleeping without a pillow tonight, loser," she teased, smirking, and Zaire glared at her as he got up to grab a pillow from my bed. "And isn't this useful information? Don't you want to know what the others have to say about you?"

"She's right," Olivier laughed, reaching up to steal Zaire's new pillow. Zaire huffed and walked back to get a new one, but not before hitting Olivier upside the head. "Go on, Meg."

"Good," Meg said, satisfied. "As I said, we were betting on who we thought Ash would kiss first." She gave me a pointed look and I felt my cheeks heat up. It was less weird talking about dating with people my own age, but it was still uncomfortable. I was glad my parents weren't in the room, at the very least. "The girls were all too modest to say themselves, but a common belief is that Alison would be the first, but then Atlantis, Isla and Amberly all started laughing and insisted that theory was the furthest from the truth."

"Yeah, because Alison's relationship with Ash is platonic," Mathys said. Lucy looked surprised at this information, but Meg just plowed through.

"That's what I figured, but the girls wouldn't say why. So then it got really messy, because Aunt Nell and Aunt Camille got involved, and they had some really interesting theories," Meg said. She stopped, smirking at Mathys and Olivier. They both shrugged. Apparently their mother had been speaking to mine, if she had enough information to join the betting.

"None of the girls think Emily or April will be first, because I can tell they don't like them, but I think Emily's cool and she talked to me for a really long time," Meg continued. Lucy wrinkled her nose in disagreement, but pressed her lips together and stayed quiet. It seemed Emily was a controversial subject amongst lots of people. "But Nell thinks Keegan's a good shot and Camille vouched for Amberly."

"Oh, is that all?" Zaire asked sarcastically when Meg finally stopped. She rolled her eyes. "In my opinion, it doesn't matter who you kiss first, but how many times you kiss them."

"And how many girls have you kissed?" Lucy asked snappishly, grinning when Zaire clamped his mouth shut. "Ash is doing the right thing. You're supposed to wait until you're ready, not rush into it. I think it's commendable."

"Oh yeah?" Mathys laughed. "So have you waited?"

Lucy raised her eyebrows at him. "That's none of your business," she said. The rest of us sniggered.

"I bet we'll find out soon enough," I hinted, smirking at Lucy. She glared back.

"Who do you think you'll keep for the Elite?" Meg asked eagerly, leaning forward with a brilliant gleam in her eyes. Mathys and Zaire exchanged suddenly solemn looks, and even Lucy paused with interest to hear what I had to say.

"I don't really know yet," I confessed. "I tried working it out on paper, but I kept shuffling everyone around. I'm keeping Isla for sure." Everyone waited for an explanation, but it was too private a thing to share that I was refraining from sending Isla home not just because I was interested but also to keep her away from the abuse she'd confided in me about. "And I like Isabella and Amberly, and Keegan and Zola and Carmella, and Atlantis as well, but that's seven girls already, and there's more than three others who still are candidates!"

"What, like Hensley and Mist?" Meg asked. "Just send them home, they're nasty." I frowned at her.

"What do you mean?" Olivier asked. "I thought they were quite pretty."

"I didn't mean appearances," Meg insisted defensively. "I don't comment on people's appearances so harshly." She looked proudly at Lucy, who smiled back. "I mean that they're mean and nasty old toads who can't handle the fact that none of the other girls think they're going to be your first kiss. They got really upset when no one put out their names."

As much as I'd been trying to form an opinion of the two Selected without Alison's input, I valued Meg's, and none of the others in the room seemed to be contesting her views on the two. I resolved for them to be the elimination after the ball.

"I'll send them home," I agreed, and Mathys sighed with relief.

"Good, now I can dance with whoever I want and not worry about scouting out elimination candidates," he said happily. Olivier smacked him again.

"Do you have a strong connection with anyone?" Lucy inquired.

I took a gulp of soda to avoid answering that immediately. "I don't know yet," I said. "It's only been a few weeks, and there's a lot of girls. The only ones I've sent home have been because there's a lack of connection. I don't know how I'm going to send home girls that I actually do have a connection with."

My cousins nodded, understanding. Olivier refilled me cup.

"In that case," he said lightly, "I recommend sending all the girls home with Mathys and me, and then you won't have to worry about any of them at all." I laughed. If only I could.


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note: I hope this makes up for my lack of updates! I've had a huge brainstorming session and just couldn't stop writing today. More updates will come soon, although this is probably my last for the day. :) Enjoy! I've introduced a new girl that I didn't really address earlier. I hope she adds something interesting.**

I only went on one more date before the ball, determined to spend as much time with my cousins while they were visiting. On one occasion, though, my siblings challenged everyone to a lively game of dodgeball, and I wisely opted out, sending a note to the Women's Room requesting Greece to join me for shopping out in town. Mom frowned a bit when I told her I would be leaving the grounds, but relented eventually.

Greece happily met me at the entrance, bravely wearing overalls and boots instead of a dress and heels. Fortunately for me, I had also opted for less formal clothing.

"You look great," I said, leading Greece over to the limo waiting for us outside.

"Thanks," she said, pushing her dark blonde hair out of her eyes. "I figured it might be smart to blend in, since people don't wear fancy dresses much outside of the palace. Queen Eadlyn is pretty famous for her outfits, so I asked her advice."

"You asked my mom for fashion advice?" I asked dubiously as the car began to drive away.

"Yeah," Greece said. "Is that weird?" She leaned toward me, much more confident than I felt at the moment.

"No, just surprising. I didn't know my mom was spending much time with the Selected yet. Traditionally, the Royal family stays distant until the Elite are selected." I shut my mouth quickly, realizing the conversation was taking an awkward turn.

"I'm not one for tradition," Greece said, giving me an impish smile. "But don't worry. The only reason your family was in the Women's Room today is because of all the guests. I'm sure there's plenty of people in your father's study as well, smoking cigars and whatnot."

I nodded. "I didn't think of that. Are my cousins annoying you yet?"

"Absolutely," Greece nodded vigorously, and for a second my heart plummeted, thinking she wasn't getting along with them. "But I love it," she added, and my muscles relaxed. "I don't have any extended family, and I'm an only child."

"I guess my ridiculously large family seems crazy, then," I said, raising my eyebrows.

"No way!" Greece insisted. "I don't have any experience with the little kids, but Caroline and Dorothy are really easy to entertain. I let them do my makeup, and Lucy got us a camera to take photos. I also did their hair, and they loved it!"

"I'm glad you get along with them," I said. "Caroline must be obsessed with you."

Greece tilted her head. "I can imagine why. I am pretty obsession-worthy, after all." I chuckled, glancing out of the dark tinted window to see we had almost arrived. "Can I ask where Prince Alexander is?" Greece wondered. "He was supposed to arrive with the others, wasn't he?"

I paused. I had almost- almost- forgotten about him, because his presence at the palace had been so hushed. He'd arrived, greeted Lucy and my parents swiftly, then disappeared into the room he was staying in, stating there was an emergency in his country and he needed privacy to assist his family in addressing it.

"He's at the palace," I said, "but he's been involved in some Swendish political crisis ever since he arrived, so no one has announced his presence for the sake of his privacy. As soon as it's over, I'm positive he'll join us."

Greece nodded understandingly. "I guess that there's always something to do for your country, even if you're not the real monarch or heir. He's fourth in line, isn't he?"

"I think so. Lucy would know," I guessed. "She's the reason he's here, after all."

"What do you mean?" Greece asked.

I shrugged, not wanting to answer her question, realizing I'd given too much away. Greece seemed to realize I wouldn't answer and shrugged back at me, smiling.

"How'd you get your name?" I asked, changing the subject to something I'd been wondering for a while.

"It used to be a country," she said. "Way back when, you know? It was one of those ancient civilizations that lasted, but then was reformed into something new during a World War, and eventually it became one of the larger countries, like Italy or the German Federation or something. I don't even know where it was. My parents just had this book of their mythology and thought it was cool, and those became my bedtime stories when I grew up, and that's what they named me."

"That's really unique. My parents just named me Ashton because they liked the name Ashton," I mused. She giggled.

"It's better than disliking it. Besides, you get a nickname, right? Ash?"

"True. Greece isn't easy to nickname, is it?" I said, thinking fast. "I've read some mythology of different cultures, and there's always interesting things in there. What should we call you- Earthshaker? Bringer of the harvest?" She hooted with laughter.

"Coolest person in Illea?" she suggested, and I snorted.

"Oh, please. That's obviously me," I said. We grinned at each other.

"Traditionally, yes," she admitted. "But remember, I'm not one for traditions. I've officially usurped you."

The limo stopped, and I opened the door. We were in a downtown part of Angeles, full of brick shops and the smell of coffee.

"What do you want to buy?" I asked. "We have to have something to look for, or how else will we decide which stores to go in?"

"Is this how you shop? You have to have a goal in mind?" Greece blinked. "Fine. Why don't we shop for some Halloween stuff? You know, tricks. We can pull a joke on some people. Or scare them. Something like that."

I smiled. "Nice idea." We strolled into a welcoming shop with fantastical decorations in the front window. I laced my fingers in hers spontaneously, thinking it was the perfect timing. Greece looked around curiously at items on display as we entered.

"Well, what do you think?" she asked, pulling me over toward a rack of fake bones. I shook my head at them. The shop was full of creepy Halloween decorations, as well as some more light hearted things for little kids.

Striking out, we walked a little farther down the road before pausing somewhere new, this time at a grocery store with big benches full of pumpkins for sale, advertising great quality for pies.

"I have a better idea than tricks," I said, thinking back to a book I'd read on Halloween. "People used to make pumpkins into faces. Why don't we buy a bunch for everyone and we can all make them as decorations for the ball? We could even put candles in them, like vegetable lanterns."

"Veggie lanterns…" Greece said doubtfully, but gave in, intrigued by the thought. We quickly counted out how many pumpkins we would need, and were soon assisted by a frazzled store clerk in pushing carts full of pumpkins down the street to the limo. After loading it full, we realized there wasn't enough room for Greece and me to sit comfortably, so I happily took her for coffee while the driver deposited the merchandise back at the palace before returning to pick us up.

Our idea was met with as much skepticism as I'd expected- which is to say, a lot. I was glad to see that Alexander had finally left his rooms and was joining us, and it was his insistence that this was still practiced in his country that convinced the others to try it.

"I believe they are called jack-o-lanterns, in your language," he said, but I shook my head.

"I like veggie lanterns better. What's the meaning behind jack-o-lantern?" I said. He shrugged, then showed everyone how to cut off a proper lid to the pumpkin and scoop out the insides. He then suggested we separate the goop from the seeds and send the seeds down to be washed and roasted in the kitchen for snacks once we'd finished.

I set myself up with a medium sized pumpkin beside Atlantis, Amberly, Isla and Alison, who were all digging into the largest pumpkins there, elbows covered in orange slime. None of the girls had changed out of dresses, not having enough warning after Greece and I arrived and announced the new activity, but they'd all had been quick to roll up their sleeves and tie up their hair for easiest access into the depths of their pumpkins. I noticed Lucy happily set up beside Alexander, who was expertly assisting her in scraping the sides with a large spoon to best hollow out the pumpkin.

I was surprised to see that April, who I'd expected to be disgusted, was having a great time as she dug into her pumpkin, but next to me, Amberly was wrinkling her nose.

"I just want to wash my hands," she complained, wiping more pumpkin strings off of them. "It's so gross and feels so weird!"

I laughed. "Come on, admit you're having fun."

"I'll have more fun when we're actually cutting into the pumpkins," she said, grimacing, and suddenly gasping in surprise as a wet mass of pumpkin came plopping onto her shoulder. "Ew!" she cried, brushing it off quickly and turning to see Alison doubled in laughter. "Not funny," she said, turning to me, but I was laughing too. "You're no help," she groaned, and tossed a bit of pumpkin guts at me.

"I should have expected that," I admitted, but quickly there were two more blobs racing through the air, and several of the girls leapt up, buckets of pumpkin guts in hand, ready to throw at anyone who dared attack them.

"Fight!" April shrieked, leaping up and running to join us, throwing her mountain of pumpkin slime left and right. I shivered in shock as I felt a hundred slimy beads running down my shirt, whipping around to find Zaire dashing away, his seed bucket empty in his hand.

"Zaire, I'm going to get you!" I roared, chasing after him.

In the chaos that ensued, luckily no pumpkins were smashed, but there was no chance of roasting any seeds as snacks, since they'd all been used as ammunition in the pumpkin battle. Still curious what they'd taste like, I requested my butlers to buy some from the market in Angeles so that everyone could still try them, but eventually Alexander took charge again and suggested we all learn how to carve the pumpkins.

I was thoroughly stumped on what to turn mine into, but was unsurprised to see Zaire etching away at a gruesome pumpkin face. Greece, her overalls stained from the pumpkin fight, was artistically sketching a geometric design across the entire pumpkin by hollowing out part of the rind so that the light would shine through without her cutting all of it in addition to cutting pieces out. Isabella cut a dog and a cat on opposite sides of her pumpkin, Zola cut out a simple pi symbol, though I was at a loss to understand why she'd want her pumpkin to be about math. I made a mental note to ask her about it. Isabella did a basic goofy face, Lucy cut out her name, but Alexander hid his before anyone could see what it looked like.

I was still stumped, however, and sought comfort in the fact that Emily also had a blank slate. I walked over to her, hoping to brainstorm with her. When she saw me, though, I knew she already had an idea.

"Ashton!" she cried. "Do you have any paints?"

I sighed. "Yeah, but I was hoping you'd help me come up with an idea first, so I'm not the only person with a blank pumpkin."

"Why don't you turn it into a house?" Emily suggested brightly. "You can cut out windows and then thin out the part that is the door, and then do shrubbery or something."

"Great, thanks," I said. "I'll have someone send in paint. What are you going to do?"

"I just need black. I thought it would be cooler if my carving was glowing out of a black pumpkin instead of orange," she explained.

"Nice," I said. "These are going to look amazing at the ball."


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note: Wow, this is a long one! I hope you like it. I wanted to specifically thank everyone who has reviewed my story so far, I really appreciate the encouragement. Your reviews have sparked so many brainstorm sessions when I wasn't even planning on writing at the time. Please keep it up, and I hope you enjoy my extra long chapter...**

No one got to see what the dance hall looked like until the actual ball, which made it even more impressive when you walked through the doors. I'd seen it decorated on other occasions, but I heard each girl gasp as she entered. I hung back, waiting for the right time to make an entrance, waiting in a room outside and just listening.

Some of the guards that were off duty had dressed in costumes to be dance partners, since I couldn't reach every girl at once, even with Mathys and Olivier, and probably Zaire keeping them company. Ethan, Dorothy and Caroline would probably gather attention, but I couldn't count on my younger cousins, who were staying with Aunt Nell and were only going to be brought out for the short time when Alexander and Lucy were planning to make their announcement.

I looked down at my costume, hoping I didn't look too stupid. I was dressed as a movie character, wearing suspenders, a bow tie and fake taped glasses. I figured the girls would be in much more flattering costumes.

Finally, Mom and Dad arrived, accompanied by Aunt Josie and Kile Woodwork. Mom and Dad were simply dressed up in their fanciest King and Queen outfits, and even Aunt Josie wore a delicate tiara representing her status as Princess. Kile Woodwork was, to my astonishment, wearing the uniform of the Selected from mom's old Selection.

Together, the five of us made our entrance and naturally every head in the room turned to look at us. I surveyed things slowly, looking around as I walked. The room was hung with fake candles, since wax would drip on us if they were real, but the pumpkins lined the room with real, flickering fire glowing from inside. I saw Dorothy and Caroline gaping at me, Dorothy wearing a blue gingham dress and Caroline flashing sparkly fairy wings and a tutu, like some sort of ballet fairy.

Scattered around the room were the Selected. April was a butterfly, and Greece had taken inspiration from her name and was dressed as a goddess with a white toga dress and gold strands weaving through her hair. There were even wings on her shoes. She looked magnificent.

I saw Emily sporting a sah like an old fashioned beauty pageant queen, dancing with a guard, and Mathys was inviting Alison to dance, her dress looking almost like it was made of moss and wood but moving as fluidly as silk. Hale Gardner had really outdone himself.

I made my way over to Zola, who was wearing a simple dress that looked like a math graph and matched with wedge heels. Remembering suddenly, I asked, "What's with all the math? Your veggie lantern was pi."

Zola smiled. "It's just a theme, I guess. I really like math, too. Especially statistics. It helps with strategy."

"I suppose that's why you're so good at spoons- strategy." I paused. "Care to dance?"

As the musicians struck up a new tune, she took my arm and we started to waltz. Hope had obviously been giving them dance lessons, since most of the girls were gracefully spinning as if they'd been doing so for years, even though outside the palace it was uncommon to attend formal dances.

"What sort of statistics do you like?" I asked curiously.

"Well…" Her brow furrowed as she thought. "I could probably calculate the probability of another war involving Illea happening in the next decade."

"That's useful," I said, smiling. "I bet the Prime Minister would love you. You could predict the likelihood of him being reelected."

"I could, if I wanted. I normally only do things that interest me…" She trailed off. "Like when I calculated the probability of a girl like me ending up with a guy like you."

I stumbled over the next step in the dance, but quickly righted myself. "When did you do that?" I asked steadily.

"Right before the names were drawn."

I pressed my lips together. "And how did it end up?"

Zola shook her head. "It doesn't happen."

We danced in silence for a minute before the music ended and a new song began. We both moved toward the edge of the dance floor silently. As we reached the edge, Carmella waved Zola over. She turned to curtsy to me but I caught her arm quickly.

"Recalculate. Statistics change. Your name was drawn. You're one in twenty-one. I think those are better odds than not at all," I told her firmly, then let go of her arm and walked away, shaking my head. Obviously I wasn't going to marry all thirty-five women selected. I had no time to pity the thirty-four who didn't make it to the end. I felt a twinge of regret, thinking that Zola had just admitted she wanted me to pick her, but I pushed it off as I greeted Emily, politely stealing her away from the guard she'd been dancing with.

"Ashton," she said cheerfully, "I hope you don't mind that I'm a horrible dancer. I think Officer Wendel's toes might be numb after the number of times I stepped on them."

"No worries. I've been doing this for years," I reminded her confidently. "In these dances I lead you, right? Just follow my lead." She blushed and took my arm.

Underneath her beauty queen dress, I would have been surprised if Emily wasn't wearing heels. She didn't step on my foot once, but stumbled regularly. Each time I caught her quickly, and she never fell, but her blush deepened as the dance went on.

"I think that might be enough dancing," Emily suggested towards the end of the song. I chuckled and we excused ourselves from the dance floor to grab drinks. Champagne was being served, but I noticed that the majority of the girls had chosen water instead, probably in the hopes that they wouldn't embarrass themselves in front of my family. I did so as well, sipping my water cup nervously next to Emily.

"I've noticed you wear red lipstick almost every day," I commented, glancing at the mark on Emily's glass where her lips had touched it.

"Oh. Yeah, yeah I do," she said. "I like it. No one else ever wears red, so I've always thought it was my thing."

"It looks nice on you. I bet you'd be unrecognizable in any other shade," I told her.

I danced with Carmella next. She was a superb dancer, never missing a step and making even me look like an oaf. Carmella wore a silver lace dress with a fake spider woven into hair- a spiderweb. It struck me that Carmella, the being the most reserved of the girls, had been trained for situations like these.

"What did you do before you came here?" I asked. She seemed glad I asked, if not a bit surprised. I chided myself for never thinking in all the time the girls had been here to honestly ask what the girls did outside of the palace.

"My parents are fairly well known politicians," Carmella said, but didn't say their names, realizing I knew nothing about the country's politics. "I was given the education of a noblewoman, probably in the hopes that I'd marry one of the foreign royalty that they worked with. They're pretty focused on status, and I'm sure they were hoping to push me into an arranged marriage."

"I'm sorry," I said, unsure of what else to say. "No one wants to marry someone they don't love."

Carmella gave me a piercing look. "You'd be surprised how common it is. Isn't this sort of like an arranged marriage? Sure, you get to pick someone out of thirty-five girls. But it's not like picking someone out of everyone that's out there."

"So what am I to you?" I asked, stiffening. "I can assure you that I will never pick a loveless marriage. The Selection is known for its happy endings."

"You're my possible happy ending," Carmella said calmly. "I assure you that a loveless marriage isn't in my best interests either."

I relaxed. "I'm glad," I said. "I was hoping for you to stick around."

Carmella's eyes lit up, though she didn't say anything for a while. Eventually, she said, "That's good. I didn't really want to go home after the ball. That's what this is, isn't it? Another chance for an elimination?"

I nodded. The music was slowing, approaching an end. "You don't have to worry about that." Carmella smiled, and I escorted her to the edge of the room. "Go on and dance with Zola. I know you two are friends." She curtsied, and we parted ways.

I knew Alexander and Lucy would be making their announcement soon, wanting to have everyone present but knowing the youngest of the lot had early bedtimes. I scarfed down a couple mini eclairs happily before seeking out Greece in the telltale white toga dress. She wasn't wearing heels, making her significantly shorter than me, but I was getting used to seeing her in flatter shoes after our excursion the day before.

"I love your costume," I said. "It's stunning." Greece chewed on the compliment before smiling.

"Thanks," she said. "I changed it last minute. I thought this made more sense." I raised my eyebrows. What she didn't say was that she changed it because we'd talking about Greek mythology and her costume made a connection between us.

"You have to let me lead," I protested as we both turned different ways, disrupting Mathys and Alison dancing next to us.

Greece laughed. "Sorry," she said, sounding not at all apologetic. "I'm not traditional, remember?"

I rolled my eyes. "For the sake of others, go with the flow just this once." She smiled and consented to letting me lead her in the dance, but it was cut short by the tinkling of glasses announcing a toast. I excused myself from Greece, wanting to be by my relatives for the announcement.

As Alexander and Lucy stole the attention, I spotted Uncle Osten standing behind Aunt Nell, who was sitting comfortably in a chair. Osten had one hand on her shoulder protectively. The two of them were rarely apart, except when Nell spent time in the Women's Room with my mother.

I sidled up next to them as Alexander finished the announcement. Nell's eyes filled with tears as she realized this was an engagement party, and she turned to me with an accusing look.

"You knew," she scolded, "and you didn't tell us!" I shrugged innocently. "To think we all thought we were here to celebrate your Selection, when really there are two upcoming marriages!"

We heard a squeal as a maid came racing forward chasing Vincent as he ran toward his parents. She handed Osten a kicking Clement, who immediately ordered for the toddler to be sent to bed, as well as baby Angelica. Vincent declared he was not going to bed, he won't, he won't, he won't, so Osten and Nell gave in and agreed he could stay up for another fifteen minutes as long as he was good and didn't both anyone.

I parted ways with them at that point, leaving them to deal with the rambunctious kindergartener, and joined the thinning crowd of people congratulating my sister and her fiance. Caroline and Dorothy were tugging on Lucy's arms energetically, laughing and giggling. I scooped Caroline up into the air, laughing.

"You're getting a bit big for that," I confessed as I set her down on the ground. "Congratulations, sis," I said, looking at Lucy. She had her arm looped through Alexander's, and they were thanking everyone that grouped around them.

Alexander shook my hand, and I strode off to dance with some more of the Selected. Alison, it seemed, was not alone in her nature costume. In fact, I realized that she had coordinated with her friends to represent the seasons- her woodland dress being spring, naturally. The fabric of Atlantis's shimmering gown looked like ice, and Isla wore a glowing, sunny summer costume. I invited Amberly to dance with me, who was wearing the warm colors of fall and jewelry that, as I guessed, was made of amber. The centerpiece of her necklace featured an encased flower in the hardened sap.

Atlantis declined to dance, but I spent some time with her enjoying the mini eclairs, which she coerced me into letting her eat. I was surprised and flattered to find that she had avoided them until she light-heartedly asked my permission. I danced briefly with both Hensley and Mist, but after determining to send them home, I found our conversation forced and uncomfortable and left feeling relieved they would be leaving in the morning.

Looking around, I noticed that Alexander and Lucy had joined the dance floor, and that Mom was dancing with Kile Woodwork, the two of them sweeping across it like no one was watching. They were great dancing partners, I noted, and wondered again how the two could be so obviously close and still I'd never heard of him before. Dad was entertaining Caroline and Dorothy with some enthralling story, or so I guessed from his exaggerated arm movements.

I looked around for a new dance partner before it dawned on me that April and Emily had both disappeared. I determined to dance with a few more of the Selected before inquiring about their absence, if only to make sure they hadn't just stepped out momentarily for air. After several more dances, however, I politely cut into Alison's dance with Olivier to ask her about it.

"Did you see where April and Emily disappeared to?" I asked her quietly. She raised her eyebrows.

"Why do you think I'd be paying attention?" she asked defensively. "I thought we'd agreed to disagree on our opinions of those two."

"You're the only person I can ask without being rude. How do you think it would go over if I approached someone as if to dance with them, only to ask where someone else is," I explained. Alison relaxed visibly.

"They left, probably for April's room. She looked upset. I didn't think much of it because April is always upset. Someone probably stepped on her foot or something," Alison said, shrugging, then returned to dance with Olivier once again.

I approached Dad. "Would it be rude to excuse myself from the dance for a little while?" I asked him softly so that Caroline and Dorothy couldn't hear. "I wanted to check on two of the Selected. I was informed that they left early and wanted to make sure nothing was wrong."

Dad looked around, then shrugged. "You're technically considered a host, but I'm sure the attention will be on the engaged couple for most of the night. Why don't you take Caroline and Dorothy to bed and stop in on the girls on your way back?" He turned back apologetically to the two girls. "Sorry, my dears, bedtime." They groaned and whined, but were silenced when they heard I would be tucking them in.

After a drawn out bedtime ritual where I tucked in Caroline and Dorothy one at a time in their rooms, I found my way to April's room. Her maid answered the door, but Emily was right behind her, having traded her costume for a loose pair of shorts and a fuzzy bathrobe.

"Your Highness," she said, her mouth falling open. "We're- we're sorry for leaving the dance early, we didn't mean to be- to be rude," she stammered.

"Don't worry about it," I said. "I came to see if everything was alright."

Emily stepped aside to let me in. "It's no big deal, really," she said, frowning. "April and I just overheard an… unpleasant conversation." April was still in part of her butterfly costume, sitting on the edge of her bed and leaning up against the headboard. One of her maids was gently finishing taking off her makeup before leaving to give us privacy.

"What happened?" I asked firmly, standing up straight like I had when Katherine had caused a commotion at our poker themed card competition. "If anyone is antagonizing you, I certainly need to know about this so I can address it."

"No one likes us," April said miserably in her small, shaky voice. Her maid hushed her kindly and rushed out of the room, carrying the cotton balls and makeup remover she'd been using with her.

Emily pressed her lips together tightly, uncomfortably. "There are a lot of strong personalities here," she said stiffly, "that tend to clash with April's and mine. We've done nothing to them, but they insist on treating us as inferiors."

I'd never seen Emily watch her words so carefully. Normally she was bubbly and talkative, but here she was nervous and secretive, careful not to throw any names out as if doing so would get her in trouble.

"Who caused the issue tonight?" I asked.

There was a long pause before anyone answered. April sank down further against the headboard, as if she was hoping to shrink, and Emily seemed conflicted about telling me.

"All due respect, Your Highness," she said slowly, cautiously, "tonight it was Lucy." She avoided my eye, sharing a frightened glance with April before continuing. "We intended to congratulate her on her engagement after the crowd around her had dispersed, but she was discussing the Selection with Queen Camille, saying how she couldn't wait until you sent us home because she was sick of the way April can't handle simple situations and how I always speak a bit too much." Emily was speeding up a bit, bitterly rushing through the parts that stung for her the most. "And she laughed and said it was incredible we'd even made it this far and then we left because neither of us wanted to hear any more of her speech." Emily took a heavy breath, closed her eyes, and calmed herself.

"Thank you," I said, "for your honesty and everything. It's incredible anyone has made it this far, but that's only because these are fairly incredible circumstances. Not just anyone takes part in a Selection. I hope you don't take her words to heart. I share strongly different opinions from my sister, and I have clearly enjoyed your company too much to send you home. I'm sure if you really did speak to much, or were incapable of handling simple situations, then you would not be as adored by me as you are. Or, perhaps, my feelings would not change, because- really- who cares how much someone speaks? Some people don't say anything at all. And sensitivity shows a kind heart, not weakness."

Emily smiled a bit. April squeaked out a small thank you.

"I'm sorry, ladies, but I'm afraid my presence is still required at the ball, considering I threw it. If there's anything more you need, feel free to steal me away. Just send down a note," I said, moving to exit the room. Emily followed me.

"Your Highness," she said after the door clicked shut.

"You normally don't call me Your Highness, Emily," I said, raising my eyebrows. Emily looked down.

"I felt under the circumstances that it was the politest thing to do," she said, shrugging. "Well, Ashton, I wanted to say thank you for listening to me without getting defensive. I don't want to speak ill of anyone in your family, because anyone who's related to you should be treated with respect. You're a wonderful person, and if they share your blood… Anyway, I also wanted to give you a word of advice," she paused, meeting my eyes finally. "I know you're new to this. So am I. But if you're really trying to find a connection with someone, it's probably a good idea to comfort them. Like with a hug or something. You were really kind speaking to me, but I don't think I should be the only person hugging April, if you know what I mean. Make a real connection with people, even if it's someone else. Don't be so distant."

I frowned. She hesitated, her hand on the doorknob, unsure if I was going to respond or if she should return to the room.

"You're right," I said, and she breathed out a sigh of relief before retreating into the room.

I made my way back down to the party, trying to figure out if I'd missed any of the Selected for dances. I sought out Keegan, who was in a corner with Zaire, Mathys and Isabella. Keegan was dressed up like fire, even wearing a mask over her eyes that was decorated to look like orange flames. She practically glowed, the appearance enhanced by the flickering light cast by the pumpkins and fake candles in the air.

I cast around for something to start a conversation as we danced, but came up short, finding my mind returning again and again to Emily upstairs and what she had just told me. Lucy was still dancing with Alexander, but I steered clear of her as I waltzed with Keegan.

"Are you alright?" Keegan asked. "Maybe you'd prefer not to dance." I realized I'd been frowning, my muscles already tightening up in my forehead.

"I'm sorry," I apologized. "It's not you."

"I hoped it wasn't," she said, still looking at me with concern. "Why don't we go sit? I'll grab some water and food and we can just watch everyone dance. If you want to talk, we'll talk. If you want to be quiet, we'll be quiet. But no one will interrupt you if you're sitting with a Selected." She added that last part thoughtfully, tilting her head as if it had just struck her how the Selected were treated with reverence when they were with me.

"Okay," I said.

When Keegan returned holding a glass of water and a small plate full of food, she pushed them into my hands insistently. "Water is good for you, and food will always improve a mood, even if it's just marginally," she said, matter-of-fact. I smiled gratefully. We sat in silence for the next two songs. I forced myself to watch my mom dance with Kile Woodwork, so as to avoid looking at Lucy. I was upset with her, I knew. I just didn't know how much.

"How well do you get along with the others?" I asked. Keegan started, realizing I'd spoken to her.

"I don't have any best friends, like some of the girls do," she said, "but I don't think there's a single girl I truly dislike. Some of them have their differences, but we're the only people in the world who know how each other are feeling, so I think we have to be close."

"Do you think," I asked again, "if two girls fought, they would deserve to go home?" It wasn't exactly what I'd been thinking, but it was a close enough question to start a conversation.

"Yeah," Keegan said immediately. "If you can't handle it, don't stay. This isn't a game. You've made it obvious from the beginning that you're taking this very seriously and you honestly want to fall in love. If someone isn't willing to make this easier on you, then they don't deserve to marry you."

"That's not what I expected you to say," I told her.

"You thought I'd tell you to give everyone a second chance? No," she shook her head. "I think the stakes are higher here. This is someone you're spending the rest of your life with, right? You need to be happy, not worried."

"What if my family members try to pick a fight with them?" I huffed. Keegan looked at me, confused.

"Your family should be glad that you're finding love and happiness, regardless of who you pick. I can't think of a single reason they should interfere with your decision or disrespect any of us," she said fiercely.

I watched as Mathys dipped Greece as he danced with her. I thought with a small smile that he'd probably danced with all of the Selected at the party at least once, and was doing better than I was. Then, I turned to look at Keegan.

"Thanks," I said.

"Eat," she replied, pointing at my untouched food.


	14. Chapter 14

I slammed the door in Lucy's face. She wasn't sorry, not in the slightest. The look on her face when I had confronted her had been caught, not apologetic, and it had just gotten worse from there.

I kicked the floor as I stormed back to my room. I was a Prince, for God's sake! I was respected by any and everyone, except my older sister- the only person who could pull rank over me besides my parents. It was infuriating. Lucy, my sister! I wanted to tell myself she'd gotten caught up in the energy of the engagement, to believe she'd never meant any harm. But I was her brother, I knew the truth.

Some future for Illea, I thought bitterly. My parents raised a queen, all right. She's so used to being the superior, it doesn't matter who she addresses anymore. There was a line drawn in the sand. On one side was Lucy, royalty and politics. The other, everyone else.

How had I never noticed before? Was I really that poor of a brother that I didn't even realize how little she cared? Sure, she hadn't hidden her feelings about the Selected- like when Meg described them as cool and she'd sarcastically responded otherwise. Or- I wracked my brains- she'd intentionally ignored my conversation with Zaire about my upcoming dates when we were studying that one day. But it had been her idea to have the Selection. Why? And it was her who had strongly advised me about not kissing any of the girls.

"If it were up to me, I'd send the lot of them home," her biting words ran in my head. "The only one worth anything to this country is Alison. I found love with royalty, why can't you be happy with someone useful?"

No wonder she hadn't wanted me to kiss anyone, I realized. None of them were royal or had political ties. Except… Why did she support Alison?

I stormed into my room and collapsed spitefully onto my bed, the adrenaline finally disappearing. My cousins weren't leaving for hours, and I wanted a nice, long nap…

I woke up feeling even more exhausted than before I'd fallen asleep, but this time emotionally. The events of the past twenty-four hours had left me drained. But finally, I was thinking clearly.

You're overreacting, I told myself. Lucy supports my Selection. You're wrong about her.

I stumbled my way downstairs to say goodbye to our departing guests. I was already late. Aunt Josie was counting bags when I walked in. No one noticed me standing in the doorway.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay with your husband?" Mom was asking Josie. "You and Meg are more than welcome. Even Kile is staying. Stay with your brother!"

"Please, Mom?" Meg begged, lighting up with anticipation. "I'll be helpful. I'll advise Ash or something!"

"I'm sure Meg has more important things to worry about than my brother's silly little Selection," Lucy cut in, laughing easily. "I doubt it'll last long, anyway." She grabbed the handle of Josie's suitcase. "Here, I'll help you get everything to the door."

I felt a twinge of annoyance, my thoughts of reconciling flying out the window. Silly, was it, my Selection?

"No, stay. Josie's been a great help. She's my most trusted advisor." I winked at my cousin, striding forward, but I hoped Lucy got the message. I was taking her advice- I would marry for love or not at all. "And I need someone on the inside. These ladies are very important to me."

"No, no." Aunt Josie shook her head decidedly. "You and Kile are needed here," she said to her husband. "Josie and I should get home. We're barely there as it is, with all our traveling."

The triumphant look in Lucy's eyes was missed by everyone else. I frowned. Was my sister turning into a villain right in front of me? Or had it already happened and I'd missed it?

Or… Maybe I was still overreacting. Siblings don't become villains overnight.

Kile Woodwork wasn't present, so I assumed he and Uncle Kaden had been asked to stay earlier on in the day. I was too upset to wonder why.

Aunt Camille and Uncle Ahren each gave my mother a hug goodbye before sweeping off. Mathys and Olivier lingered to say proper goodbyes. I thought I detected some negative body language between them and Lucy that I'd never noticed before, but I dismissed it. I was just worked up, after all.

After many goodbyes to Osten, Nell and their children, the hall was quiet again. I ignored Licy and was the first to depart, returning once more to the solace of my room.

Over the next few days, I was in no mood to be social. Of course, Alexander stayed, and Uncle Kaden and Kile Woodwork were still around, but I didn't see much of them, however, since they spent most of the time discussing sudden, pressing, mysterious issues behind the closed door to Mom's office. Lucy joined them whenever Alexander did, and Prime Minister Edwents stopped by a few times.

Hensley and Mist left with tears, but I felt a weight lift from my shoulders knowing that was my last obligation with the Selected for the week. I spent a good few days avoiding people and sulking in my own confusion, but was eventually forced to face the fact that I had to get back to regular activity.

The first person's company I sought was Atlantis's. I knew I could count on her to not be overbearing, since with my mood, that was about all I wanted to deal with. I invited her to join me in the library, where I knew I would be able to spend a quiet few hours without much pressure to talk.

"This place is incredible," Atlantis breathed, looking around the room in awe. "How old some of these books must be… You'd never find these anywhere else."

"A lot of books were destroyed in the older rules," I said, running my hand along the spines of the books. "But my parents have encouraged information to be spread. We still keep the original books here, but new ones are written everyday."

Atlantis nodded. "What's your favorite?" she asked, pulling a thick old book from the shelf and thumbing through it.

I debated quickly in my head, then grabbed her arm and pulled her over to a shelf of better preserved books. "That one," I said, pointing to a thick tan volume. She knelt down to read the spine.

"The Dragonriders of Pern." Atlantis looked up at me. "Never heard of it."

I grinned. "I know. It's fiction."

"I've always preferred history. Not that we know all that much anymore, but I still like learning it," Atlantis replied, her eyes wandering back to the shelf. "Hope teaches us a lot. I bet those would be helpful study materials."

We spent time in silence, reading side by side. Atlantis engrossed herself in a recent Illean history book and I found myself a short novel. I was grateful for the date after it ended, leaving in better spirits than I'd arrived despite the lack of meaningful conversation. It was still morning, so I decided I'd arrange a date with Virginia in the afternoon.

At lunch, all of the Selected were present but some of the seats at the head table were empty- Mom, Alexander, Lucy, Uncle Kaden and Kile Woodwork all holed up somewhere working on who knows what. I waved at Dad and my two siblings that were present, but an idea struck me.

"Caroline!" I nudged her when I reached the table. "You haven't started eating yet, have you?" She blinked and pushed her plate to the side, smiling widely and guessing at my plans.

"If you don't mind, Dad," I said, looking up at my father, "I think Caroline and I are going to dine with the Selected today, since we're missing so many people at the head table anyway."

I heard a cheer from behind me, and saw Greece clapping her hands. Isabella and Keegan joined in. With sixteen girls gone, the tables were much emptier and everyone was spread out more. "Come on, ladies," I called. "Why don't we consolidate a bit, just for today. There's plenty of room."

The girls stood up and scrambled to find new seats by their friends. I chose a seat by Isabella, Keegan and Greece, since those three had been the most enthusiastic to hear I was joining them for lunch.

"Isabella," I said with a smile. "I haven't seen you in a while. I hope you don't blame me."

She smiled back at me from behind her glass of juice. The mood was lighter in the room than it had been in days, and I realized that was because I was in a better mood. I'd been avoiding the Selected- hypocritically, I admitted, as I'd only days before said they were all important to me- so materially my attention made everyone more energetic.

"Definitely not." Isabella quipped, "but I hope that starts to change."

"Yeah, Ashton," Greece jumped in, her reproachful tone covered in a laugh, "you've been a ghost since the ball. Halloween's over, remember?" Her eyes bored through me.

"Where've you been?" Keegan asked.

I sighed. They'd trapped me, and I should've known they would. "I was…" I faltered. "I was rethinking my relationships. I realized that in the amount of time you've been here, I've been going about this wrong and it's prevented me from learning what's absolutely unique about all of you." It was an excuse, but it wasn't a lie. I'd rethought everything I was doing, incorporating Keegan and Emily's advice. I was going to throw myself in deeper- I'd been holding back.

From the other end of the table, Emily dropped her fork. She flushed and picked it up quickly, her cheeks as red as her lips. For the first time, I forced myself to look at her beyond just the hair color she had dyed her sleek strands and the signature shade she wore every day as a lipstick. For a brief moment, we made eye contact, and I saw that she was wiser than I'd given her credit for. Her advice had come in handy, after all.

"What's unique about you?" Greece asked. "This can't be one sided. Everyone's dying to know something about you."

I blinked. At the next table, where Caroline was sitting, the girls had turned their heads to listen. Stabbing a piece of cantaloupe with my fork, I thought hard. "Um…" Then it hit me. "I know nothing about politics. I'm probably the worst prince a country would need." Some of the girls laughed, but I could tell the quieter ones were processing what I'd said.

"But you're second in line to the throne!" Keegan insisted, her eyes playful.

"Exactly!" I shook my head. "I should never need to worry about it. Lucy will step up in a few years, and by then she'll have an heir. And I'll just spend my time working with foreign royal families and throwing parties. It's perfect." I saw the girls that had been tense sink back into their seats.

"That's what my uncles did. My mother was the only one in the family to be trained as Queen," I added.

Keegan rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but if the Queen's twin brother married a princess and became Prince Consort of France, he obviously had to know a little bit about politics."

"I'm not going to be Prince Consort or King anywhere. Just Prince. That's how it works for me."

Keegan shrugged. "I still think you should at least know as much as we do. The basics."


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note: Please vote in the poll on my profile page! I am very, very close to choosing the Elite and I want your input before I make the final decisions. I love your reviews, please keep posting them! I hope this chapter is a little more exciting than the last. More excitement and dates to come!**

I'd been on a date with Virginia once before, but it had been cut short by Zaire impatiently demanding my help. She'd told me she liked sports before I left, though, so I decided to invite her for a one-on-one game of soccer. I met her on the grass wearing running pants and a sweatshirt. She had her curly brown hair tied back loosely from her face, and she had on a loose t-shirt.

I eyed the goosebumps on her arms. "Did you forget it was getting colder? It's almost November."

"No," Virginia scoffed, folding her arms and shivering. "I just figured I wouldn't want a heavy sweatshirt once we got going."

"Oh, smart." I shrugged and tossed her the black and white soccer ball. She caught it and dropped it at her feet, her grin fading into a look of determination as we started off.

Our chatter quickly faded when I realized how skilled Virginia was at the game. I was sweating, out of breath, and losing horribly. We finally paused to take a break, panting, and I brought out cold towels and water bottles from a cooler sitting by my discarded sweatshirt. I took a gulp of water and finally caught my breath.

"You're not so bad," Virginia lied.

"Are you kidding? You creamed me!" I spluttered.

"Yeah, I guess." She bit her lip. "You're not as fit as I thought you'd be, Ashton."

"And you're fitter than I thought you'd be, Virginia," I replied.

"Call me Gin."

"Call me Ash."

We stared at each other. I hadn't let anyone use my nickname yet, but it was about time I did. She seemed aware that no one but my family called me Ash.

I broke the tension. "So, what do you do, Gin? Back home, I mean."

She twirled her water bottle thoughtfully. "I haven't decided yet. I worked on a ranch when I was little, while my family lived there, and I spent some time working at a hotel my uncle runs. There's not a lot of people in Calgary, so there's not many opportunities to choose from."

"There's less choices here."

"Yeah, that's true." Gin leaned back. "But there's more interesting people. Everyone wants to do something with their lives. No one wants to be a miner or a ranch hand. They all want to do something worthwhile."

"Except me," I said. She laughed.

"Yeah, except you. You just want to eat food and party." We grinned at each other. "Are you serious about that, though? Do you really not want to get involved in your families politics?"

I shook my head. "No. I avoid magazines as much as I can because I want to be free to make my own decisions and there's almost always an article on the royal family. But in doing that, I also sort of miss out on current events. And I'm still useful. It's a lot easier to befriend foreign dignitaries when you're not worried about losing them as allies or something like that."

"I guess that makes sense. I would just hate feeling powerless, not being able to do anything to fix problems."

Gin fixed me with a stare, like she was wishing that one look could cure the world of all its issues. "I am doing something, though," I said. "Kindness goes a long way."

She shrugged. "Come on, that's enough of a break. Let's go back to the game. You should do this more often and get in shape." I laughed and stood up reluctantly, and I resumed the hopelessly stacked match.

I sought out Amberly after dinner, determined to prove to the remaining Selected that I was completely focused on them after my absence for the last few days. I also needed them to have something to talk about on the Report, since Mom had informed me they'd be interviewing the girls more in depth in one of the upcoming weeks. It had struck me as odd, considering we were so close to choosing the Elite, but when she'd retreated immediately into her study I understood that they were hoping to fill up time on the Report so that they didn't have to address whatever was going wrong now.

I ran into Alison on my way to Amberly's room, however. She was kneeling on the floor, surrounded by many scattered papers that she'd clearly dropped. I bent to help her pick them up. One was a creamy envelope addressed to Marid Illea. I frowned at it as I handed it back to Alison. I hadn't realized there were still people in the country with the last name of Illea. The ruling line had changed to Schreave a few generations earlier when King Justin had died and his wife had remarried his cousin to keep the line going. According to my parents, that was the end of it, too.

Alison thanked me for my help and walked off, shuffling through her papers as she did. I watched her go, wondering how she knew this Marid Illea and why I hadn't known there was an Illea line still present.

Amberly answered the door, her maids gone. She looked very pretty with her hair down and a simple gray dress and a lighter gray fur wrap. I'd asked her to have tea with me in the garden. The sun was setting earlier and earlier every day, and the leaves were changing colors, and I knew Amberly was the perfect girl to appreciate the view. When I sent her the note after dinner, she'd been in the Women's Room, and I watched her open it when the messenger opened the door to leave. I'd been right, of course, and I saw her smile secretively when the other girls turned to ask about the message.

"Are you ready?" I asked, offering her my arm. She beamed at me. In my effort to follow Emily's advice at making real connections, I found it effortless to find one with Amberly. She was tactful and classy, quiet in groups but eager to share her life with me. With her dark hair and olive skin, she almost looked like the portraits I'd seen of her namesake, Queen Amberly.

When we reached the garden, Amberly gasped. She was staring at the light filtering through the red and gold leaves of the trees. There was a silver tray of tea and fruit set up by a marble bench, and it was reflecting the sunlight, bouncing gold fragments all over the place, where they surprised you by shining in your eye if you walked in the wrong place.

"My goodness, Ashton, this place is beautiful," Amberly breathed. I smiled down at her. The tapping of her heels had been muffled by the dead leaves littering the pathway, but I could still barely hear their soft clicks hitting the ground.

"I thought you'd like it," I said proudly, picking up the teapot as we sat. The tea was hot, herbal peach. I rarely drank it, but Meg had written about it in one of her letters while on vacation in France and sent some back. Promising I'd let her know what I thought, this was just as much a treat for Meg as it was for Amberly- and, admittedly, me.

I poured the tea into two porcelain cups and offered her one. The steam rising was warm and comforting in the brisk air, kind of like Amberly's presence. She sipped hers slowly, delicately, but I drank mine impatiently. I didn't want the wind to cool it down before I finished.

"Didn't anyone ever teach you the right way to drink tea?" Amberly asked, smiling softly behind her cup.

"Yes," I said defensively. "Well, no, but it can't be that hard."

She shook her head scoldingly, tsk'ing. "You're not even holding it right. Here-" She took my hand and rearranged my fingers on the cup. "Now sip quietly and slowly. Little bits at a time. If you drink too fast, it looks vulgar."

"I am not vulgar!" I protested and she laughed, but immediately my foreign handhold on the cup slipped and it fell, shattering on the ground and slopping tea over the stone path.

Like she had done when Emily smashed the yogurt bowl, Amberly calmly moved her feet away from the glass fragments. She sighed, setting her cup back on the tray politely and rested her hands on either side of her, on the bench.

Without thinking, I placed my hand on top of hers and laced our fingers together. She looked up, masking her surprise, but smiling.

"What's it like where you're from?" I asked. She glanced at the trees with their colorful leaves.

"Cold. But pretty. People travel to Whites a lot to do ice fishing in the winter, so it's good for tourism. It's really picturesque. Nothing like this, though."

"I've never visited Whites before," I said. "I'd love to, though. We never go that far north for trips, and my parents don't take me along on political trips."

Amberly launched into a description of her hometown, talking animatedly and laughing, our hands still intertwined. I listened to her bright, soft voice and watched her as she talked, trying to find any trace of homesickness in her. There was none. As much as she loved her home, as she described, she liked being here enough that she didn't miss it. I was comforted in that thought.

By the time we walked inside, the sun had set and Amberly and I were both shivering despite our warm attire. She pulled her wrap around her tight and I put my arm around her, hugging her close to me as we walked inside. Even though it was warmer the deeper we got into the palace, I left my arm wrapped around her.

As we climbed the stairs, I asked, "Amberly, why did you enter the Selection?"

"You should know," she said lightly, looking down at her feet.

Neither of us got the chance to continue the conversation. A loud wail filled our ears, and lights flashed from the corners of the walls. A siren? Both of us froze, confused. Never in my life had the siren at the palace gone off unprovoked. The only reason I recognized it was from the drills. But today wasn't a scheduled drill. We only had drills twice a year, and the last one had been three months ago.

Amberly's petrified face moved me into action. I grabbed her arm and swiftly pulled her up the stairs, searching frantically for a hidden panel that I recognized. When I found one, I pressed it, revealing a hidden set of stairs. My heart was pounding in fear, but Amberly's face was so white that all I was worried about was her, at the moment.

"Where are you going?" she cried as I began to move away.

"None of the Selected have been prepared for this," I shouted over the siren. "I need to make sure everyone is okay." She nodded solemnly and I closed the panel, running off. I saw people rushing everywhere, frantically seeking out safe rooms. I was on the floor where all of the Selected slept, so most of them had already banded together with their maids, who led them urgently toward the royal saferoom. I thought of Amberly, wondering if she'd been the first to reach the safe room. We'd been lucky to be so close to her room that she was by the designated safe room for the Selected.

I reached Emily and April in four bounds. Emily was hugging April tight as they walked swiftly through the halls. Their maids led the way, but only Emily was paying attention to where they walked. April had her eyes closed and was shaking her head as she sobbed.

"April," I said worriedly, grabbing her hand and squeezing it. "Everything will be fine." I glanced at Emily to reassure her as well, but it was she who comforted me. She nodded encouragingly and let of April to let me speak to her directly. "The alarms are used even in precautions." Not a lie- but we'd never had any intruders get close enough for even a precaution. I worried. Were the guards out of practice? Were they prepared for an attack on the palace? And what about my family, on a completely separate floor? They were supposed to join the Selected in the safe room, but if they were too far, they would hide in the nearest one.

April didn't answer, but I held her hand as I led her to the safe room. Her maids helped her down the stairs, and I was hit by a rush of gratitude for the staff at the palace. Once upon a time the staff wasn't even allowed in the safe room but were still required to assist the Selected there before finding their own. I was glad that had been changed before my time. Now, whatever was nearest was open to anyone and everyone.

Knowing most of the girls had already made their way down the stairs, I followed, glancing through the halls before the panel shut. I saw no one. Maybe the intruders hadn't actually gotten into the palace.

I saw Mom sitting on a cot, frazzled but calm and composed. Beside her, Kile Woodwork was shaking his head darkly. He was deep in discussion with Uncle Kaden. Every so often the two of them would look up at me and see me watching. I looked away to survey everywhere else. Lucy was hovering near the adults, holding her head up high. Zaire was reassuring Caroline on another cot, who was crying. He hugged her for a while, then found a blanket and ordered her to try to sleep. I smiled. He could be very responsible when he needed to be.

Hope was rushing from girl to girl, trying to keep everyone quiet and remain in charge. There were few cots, only seven, and two were taken up by my family. I saw April and Emily huddled on the floor, and approached them. Emily was still comforting her friend, who appeared traumatized.

"Ladies," I said in what I hoped was a firm but comforting voice. "Please. I insist you both try to sleep. There are empty cots. Take them. You need it." Emily looked up at me and pursed her lips, but nodded. She helped April stand and led her over to a cot, but returned back to me once she was certain her friend was alright without her.

"I don't need to rest as much as some of the others do," she told me. "Is there anything I can do?"

I looked around. "Find somewhere you feel comfortable sitting. I want everyone relaxed. Movement will just be agitating for all of us." She nodded and went to join Virginia, who was sitting stoically against the wall.

Alison, Amberly and Atlantis were crowding around Isla, who looked shaken. I remembered she was from Waverly, which was notorious for having heavy crime. In addition to an abusive step-father, she must have experienced a lot of police sirens growing up. I told her to take the fourth cot, leading her over personally.

"I know you were open about your past with me before," I said to her softly, "and I know it was difficult for you. I want you to try to sleep through this. You don't need any more scares." She shrugged away from me.

"You don't need to protect me," she said, scowling.

"I'm no more capable of protecting you than you are of protecting yourself," I responded, taken aback. "You're not weak, Isla. But none of us knows what's happening at the moment, and until I have further information, I want you to sleep. You are a guest in my home, understand that it is my first priority to see you well."

She sniffed but sat down on the cot. There were two more empty ones- Xeraphina had taken one and already seemed fast asleep. Her small frame seemed even tinier huddled up in the dimly lit room.

Hope bustled over, barking at Hailey and Zaire to take the last cots. Zaire seemed offended that she had ordered him around and opened his mouth to retort, but looked at the cot and resigned to it. I held back a smile, watching him collapse gratefully onto it and close his eyes. I doubted he would sleep, but it was better than watching a room full of worried expressions, no one with any information except possibly my parents, who of course would say nothing.

I made my rounds by all the girls, passing out the spare blankets as fairly as I could. Kneeling by Zola, Carmella and Greece, I was relieved to see none of them appeared worried. They were whispering quietly, so as not to disturb anyone.

"It'll be over any time soon," Zola said, shrugging and glancing at me with an easygoing smile. "Statistically, these can't last long. The training of the palace guards is impeccable. Most of the time we're down here, there probably won't even be a threat. They'll just be searching and double checking before they say everything is clear."

Carmella nodded. "This happens to every country, no matter how peaceful. You have to be used to it to accept the life of a princess."

Greece rolled her eyes. "Or a maid," she added. Carmella looked stricken, but didn't respond. The maids were huddled together, a couple staying with the Selected, like Alison's maids, but most of them seemed much less nervous than the Selected. They were closer with the guards, so I imagined they trusted the system better than the girls who were so new to the palace.

I reached Keegan next, who was stretched out on her stomach with her head resting on her arms. Although her eyes were closed, I knew she was awake. I gently shook her shoulder and held out a pillow for her. She took it wordlessly and closed her eyes again.

I spent the next half hour rotating between people, making sure everyone was comfortable. Some of the girls finally drifted off, but were woken up by the panel sliding open and a guard walking down the stairs. He muttered something to my mother and those around her. Mom sank back, relieved, and Dad put his arm around her. Kile Woodwork nodded solemnly.

"Up, up," Hope bustled around again. "Go back to your rooms. Go back, and go to bed immediately." The Selected filed out of the room first, followed by their maids. I saw Zaire shaking Caroline awake and leading her sleepily out as well.

I was left in the room with Lucy, my parents, Uncle Kaden, and Kile Woodwork. I walked over to them.

"What was that?" I demanded. Mom looked nervously at Uncle Kaden. Lucy sniffed, looking at Kile Woodwork disdainfully, and left.

"Rogue protesters to the throne," Kile Woodwork said. "They threw some rocks and got chased away. There was no major damage."

"Go to bed, Ash," Dad told me. "I'm sure you're just as tired as the rest of us."

I walked up the stairs stiffly, mulling it over. Was it really just rogues? Mom looked too nervous for that. There hadn't been a real attack on the palace since Grandma and Grandpa were ruling. I knew that for a fact.

There was one person to ask, though I really didn't want to. With my luck, she wouldn't even answer.

I found myself knocking on Lucy's door. She swung it open immediately, like she'd been waiting for me.

"I knew this would happen," she breathed, and ushered me inside.

 **Author's Note: Reminder, please vote in the poll! I really love your feedback. :)**


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note: Thanks for everyone who voted in the poll! I'm sorry this took so long, but I was out of town and I wanted to make sure there was time for everyone to vote who wanted to. I hope this makes up for it, as well as the chapters coming up.**

"Explain."

Lucy gestured to her bed. I sat on the edge of it as fast as I could, impatiently staring at her. She looked angry. I needed to know why- for my sake and for the sake of the women in the Selection. Pacing, Lucy grappled for works.

"Marid Illea," she began. I recognized the name. It had been on Alison's letter. "Mom and Dad kept him quiet so he couldn't interfere in the palace. If you didn't know about him, he couldn't influence you. We just pretended he didn't exist."

I waited.

"He's the son of the leaders of the Northern Rebels, who disbanded when they achieved their goal of eliminating the castes. You know this story. What you don't know is Marid was power hungry. He grew up having no real power, since the rebels no longer existed. He tried to force Mom to marry him during her Selection. She picked Dad, instead. Marid was furious. But he still had a public image, and he used that to his advantage."

Lucy's pacing increased in speed. "Eventually, he went underground and disappeared from the public eye. Recently, we think he's been trying to reform the rebel group with a new aim. They're angry about Marid not being in power. He was supported by the public in his time and everyone thought Mom was going to marry him. They call themselves Purists and want the Illea line to return to power." She scoffed. "They always want something. We got rid of the castes for them. We became a constitutional monarchy for them. Now they want an absolute monarchy, which will return everything to how it used to be, except with a new king."

"Why can't Marid just run for Prime Minister?" I asked. "If he's so popular, wouldn't he get the votes for power without all this treason?"

"Mom fixed that. Royal blood can't run for politics, unless they're advisors to the queen and king themselves. He still counts, even as a distant relative."

"So… What was the point of this tonight?"

"Their first attempt at a longterm goal. The Purists don't care how soon the Illea's take the throne. They want you to pick someone they're sponsoring. They believe having people on the inside will make their ultimate goal easier. They're prepared to marry an Illea to a Schreave in the next generation, and then the Purists can take over. This attack was just strategy. They were trying to scare people into going home so their girls will make it farther."

"That's absurd," I said.

Lucy turned to look at me, suddenly very still. "Stranger and worse things have happened."

I was ushered out of the room unceremoniously. I walked to Alison's room, looking for more answers, but no one opened the door.

By morning, there were bags under my eyes. I'd sent letters, made telephone calls and processed everything through my head over and over again until I finally fell asleep for the last three hours of the night.

Mom woke me up early, calling me to her office before breakfast. She, too, looked tired. A large mug of coffee was in front of her, and there were stacks of paper everywhere- on the floor, on her desk, on the mantle above the fireplace.

"So," she said. "Lucy talked to you."

"They're sponsoring girls in my Selection?" I burst out. "Meaning I've been lied to this entire time. Who are they? Do you want them here?"

Mom raised her eyebrows. "Me? No. And I don't know who they are," she said. "Lucy and I have disagreed on this from the start. She thinks the Selection is a great way to solidify peace between us and the rebels before they get started and gain popularity. She believes the royal family should never have given up power to a prime minister and we can use this situation to our advantage to solidify our alliances with other countries. I think the royal family has retained too much power. In any case, this goes beyond just your Selection, Ash. It's politics."

"I don't care about politics!" I said angrily. "I care about my life! You're the one who always said you'd never use a Selection for politics, and you always talk about it like it's the perfect love story. I won't be a tool to use and I will not marry for any reasons but my own!"

There was a knock on the door, and it opened before Mom could respond. My grandparents stood outside, looking like they'd heard every word. I relaxed. They'd dealt with rebel groups before. They could handle this.

"We came as soon as Ash called us," Grandma said calmly. "If you don't mind, Eady, we'd like a word with our grandson."

Mom seemed like she wanted to say more, but vacated the room nevertheless. Grandma and Grandpa entered, looking sympathetic.

"There never really is peace, is there?" Grandpa sighed. Grandma shook her head.

"So," she said, looking at me with amusement. "You've find you're in the middle of a political battle."

"I don't want to be," I huffed.

"Neither did I," she reminded me gently, her eyes twinkling. "I never liked Marid. I was sorry we couldn't make things work with his parents, but that time has passed. Now, you have to decide what you're going to do about the Elite. People will be expecting it."

"What do you mean?" I demanded. "I don't know who's being sponsored by the Purists."

"So?" Grandpa asked.

"So," I continued, "I can't eliminate them if I don't know who they are. How can I possibly pick the Elite now?"

"Why would you worry about that?" Grandpa laughed. "Their political views shouldn't prevent them from loving you. There was a lovely girl named Kriss who almost married Maxon and she was a rebel, and she was very much in love with him. My father was a rebel, too."

I breathed slowly. "He was?" Grandma nodded.

"They'll want you to pick the Elite soon, given what's happened. None of the girls will know it's serious, but no one will want that many girls in the palace- it's a security risk," she advised. "Now, I'm going to find that granddaughter of mine and congratulate her on the engagement. We're sorry we missed the party, by the way, dear…"

With that, they were gone again. I stared at the empty doorway, confused. Then, I got up and went to breakfast.

Unsurprisingly, April caught me before I entered the dining hall and asked to go home. I let her. She just couldn't handle life at the palace. The mood in the dining hall was more subdued. None of the girls had answers, after all. Except… Alison approached me, nervously.

"Ashton," she began, then stopped. "Look," she tried again.

"Stop," I cut her off. "I'm here for love. I already said before that I know nothing about politics. You and I agreed long ago to just be friends. I don't care about anything but finding a wife who will love me until we're old. It doesn't matter who you're working with or what you think about the government."

She looked astonished. "You're not… angry," she said, slowly.

"My sister's going to be queen, not me," I said. "It doesn't matter who I marry, politically, because they'll never be in power."

I strode back to my seat.

At the end of breakfast- I didn't even notice what I was eating- I stood. Everyone turned to look at me. I gulped, preparing to speak. I hadn't even addressed the matter with my family, having spent the entire meal making my final decisions, but their expressions told me they knew what to expect. I cleared my throat.

"Ladies," I began. "Last night's events, while thankfully caused by a group of rogues who were apprehended-" a lie- "still caused me to think deeply about the sacrifices you have all made to stay here." Blank stares, knowing stares, they all looked back at me. "Like my grandfather, I have decided to use this opportunity to narrow the Selection down to the Elite." A few gasps. "Only the following will remain at the palace." I took a breath. The girls were leaning in, anticipating the ten names to come. "Amberly Fells, Emily Jones." Amberly sat prim and proper. "Isla Harlent, Atlantis Collins." Of course, Isla was staying. I couldn't send her home to that family. "Keegan Prusifski, Carmella Reyes." Keegan smiled, as if she hadn't even been worried. "Greece Ladely and Virginia Krout." Everyone waited for the last two names. I caught Isabella's eye. I thought back to the first time I'd seen her picture and her beauty had rendered me speechless.

Then I thought of our first date, where I'd chosen not to put my arm around her. That's all it had been for me- beauty. We had nothing in common. She'd make someone happy, and someone would love her for her personality, but it wasn't going to be me.

"I will be leaving the Elite numbered eight instead of ten. Like my mother did in hers, I believe wholeheartedly in my decision. I see no point in forcing anyone to stay when we have no future."

Isabella looked stunned, and I saw Zola's face crumple. If I had picked anyone else, I would have picked them. But it was the right thing to do. The most shocked look in the room came from Lucy. She'd been pulling for Alison, and here I was sending her home. I wondered if anyone I'd kept was involved with the newly formed rebel group. As much as I didn't want to care, it made me nervous to think that some of these girls had ulterior motives to being here, or that they didn't really love me at all.

"Anyone is welcome to come see me to discuss my decision during the next few hours before you depart," I said, then glanced at my parents. They nodded, and I left the room.

I wondered for a moment if I was rushing things. It had to be done, of course, but there were still girls I had even given a second thought. Except for my one on one dates with Claire, we had barely spoken. Was I missing out on some sort of connection by sending her home without really giving her a chance? And Zola… I'd picked Virginia over her at the last second. I thought back to what she'd said about the odds not being in our favor. At the time, I'd reassured her, but I couldn't ignore the twinge of regret I'd felt when I did.


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's Note: Surprise! You get a second chapter today! I hope this makes up for the long delay. There will be lots more coming soon, as I have plenty of dates in mind! I'm putting up a new poll for input on the upcoming eliminations. They won't be happening real soon, but I want to put up the poll now so everyone can add their input. Please vote! It will be in my profile!**

With October passing, I had a month and a half to relax and focus on the Selection before any activities occurred again. My siblings and I had all been born conveniently in the springtime, which left us with celebrations spread out year round. This month before Christmas was my solace- I could take things slow, get to know the girls better, and not worry at all about anything else. While my family had given the Selected as much distance as they could spare before, the narrowing of the Elite was like flipping a lightswitch- Caroline's giggles were ceaseless, although endearing, as I could always trust to find her playing with the girls in the Women's Room. Lucy had moved on quickly from her disappointment in Alison being sent home, and while she and Alexander spent much of their time alone or working in her office as they prepared for the wedding and inevitable coronation, she made time to reservedly chat with all eight of them during brief moments. My intention to ignore her advice had been made clear, and she'd restrained from giving any, leaving our fight resolved and our feelings toward each other much more sibling-like and affectionate. Zaire had already had the most contact with the Selected prior to my elimination, and he'd returned to the backseat role of making snide, sarcastic comments about my many girlfriends, though I'd begun to detect a change in his demeanor as well. Even Mom and Dad were making an effort. They still hung back the most, but at some point in the future, I knew they would be planning something to meet each girl individually.

This knowledge in hand, I worried more and more about my family approving of my final choice. I wanted to put more time into planning my dates with each girl, focusing on things we had in common.

It was with these intentions that I found myself standing in the entrance hall on the first of November, waiting for Isla to meet me, completely unsure of what our plans were for the day. I'd left her in charge of picking the excursion, something I hadn't done yet, and I was very nervous to find out what it would be.

"Ashton!" I turned. Isla was wearing a loose burgundy knit sweater over her shoulders and stylish boots over her jeans. I blanched. I'd not planned ahead. She was dressed for the outdoors, and I was wearing a t-shirt and khakis. My expression did not go unnoticed, and Isla laughed, tossing me the large gray sweatshirt in her hands. "I came prepared," she informed me. I held the sweatshirt up. It was an old one of mine, not very stylish, and obviously something Bryce had dug out from the very back of my closet.

"You're scheming," I accused mockingly. "Giving me my rattiest clothes and looking amazing yourself? There's some plot here."

Isla rolled her eyes. "Considering they have to hand make everything for me, requesting clothes you can get dirty outside means something different compared to the boy who already has everything he needs. It's not my fault my maids gave me some really cute clothes." She tossed her hair, laughing. I grinned at her and pulled the sweatshirt over my head.

"So what are we doing outside that calls for getting dirty? It's not like there's a lot of gardening left to do." I looked her up and down. Isla was an honest and independent girl, and I supposed that carried out to her interests. She wanted to be out in the free air rather than confined by the walls of the palace.

"You'll see," Isla said mysteriously, then winked.

"That's so not fair," I whined. "How come girls are so good at winking and I look like an ostrich with one eye when I do it?"

Isla busted out laughing. "What type of comparison is that?" She gasped between breaths. "Have you ever even seen an ostrich, let alone one with one eye?" I shook my head, shrugging and laughing good naturedly with her. Finally, she caught her breath. Her laugh was cute, though, and I was sad to see her stop. She laughed with spurts of giggles, and she couldn't breathe except for in between the spurts.

"Seriously, though, I don't know how you can do it so easily. It's the perfect move, yet I can't do it," I said, shaking my head in wonder.

"You're just not coordinated enough, I guess," Isla said. "But I can't raise one eyebrow, just two, and I've seen you do that and it's definitely not fair."

"What, like this?" I said, slyly raising my left eyebrow. She giggled again, playfully pushing my shoulder.

"Exactly. Now come on, mister, or we'll spend our entire date just standing here."

"That wouldn't be so bad," I admitted, and saw Isla blush as she swung open the front doors. I traipsed after her through the grounds as she led me off to an out of the way gardening shed where the groundskeepers kept some of the smaller tools.

"Couldn't you have asked someone to bring us the supplies?" I asked.

"You're such a whiner, Ashton," Isla joked. "First the sweatshirt, then the winking, now this. I know you grew up in the palace, but some of us don't mind working a bit before we can play!" I snorted. She was right, though, even if she was just teasing. I quickly changed the subject.

"Does it get cold in Waverly?" I asked. Isla frowned at the thought of her hometown and I immediately regretted asking. I'd almost forgotten why she'd entered the Selection in the first place.

"Yeah," Isla said, her tone light but her brows furrowed. "Not like this, though. It snows and everything, big blizzards, which you don't get in Angeles. But I was in a pretty cramped city full of cars and apartments and big buildings, and Angeles is really spread out full of green space. The snow was just a nuisance when driving."

I looked down at my feet. Our conversations weren't really going where I'd hoped. "How'd you come up with… Whatever it is we're doing?"

Isla perked up, beaming again. We reached the shed and she swung the door open, reached in, and emerged a second later, triumphantly holding two plastic rakes.

"We're raking," I said skeptically.

"Yes," Isla said, thrusting one out for me.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

I sighed. Weird and tedious as it might be, it was what she wanted, so I spent the next fifteen minutes helping Isla rake leaf upon leaf over the grounds onto a tarp, where a mountainous pile was just beginning to emerge. She finally relented at my pleas for a break. I dropped my rake victoriously.

"So this is what you thought of when I recommended you pick something you like to do in your free time for our date?"

"No," Isla laughed. "I told you, there's not enough lawn for that in Waverly. I've only raked leaves a couple times at park for volunteering. But I've always wanted to make a leaf pile."

I shook my head in disbelief. "Why?"

Isla frowned, but it was out of confusion this time. "What do you mean? Haven't you?"

I glanced at the rake at my feet. "Why would I want to make a pile of leaves?"

"Seriously?"

It was my turn to respond. "Seriously."

Isla dropped her rake by mine. "Watch," she ordered, and jogged a few yards away, giving me a big, double-handed thumbs up when she stopped and judged her distance. I returned it, smiling uncertainly. Isla broke into a sprint, running straight for the pile, and at the last second she launched herself into it with a cry of excitement. The leaves flew everywhere, raining down on the grass we'd just cleaned.

Laughing, I waded a bit into the pile to give her a hand. "Wow," I said. "I have to try that!"

"Sure," Isla said, grinning. "But first we have to rake it up again so it's nice and high."

I groaned, finally realizing how much work it would take for just one jump. But I picked up my rake with new rigor, anticipating the leap I was about to take. Soon enough, we'd dumped the scattered leaves and some new ones onto the tarp and it was ready for me. Isla watched from the side as I took a running start and catapulted myself into the dewy, crunchy pile awaiting me.

"That was incredible!" I shouted, leaping out of the pile excitedly. "I can't believe I've never done this before!"

Again and again, we raked and jumped, sometimes pulling each other in the pile with us. Once I picked up Isla and swung her around before gently tossing her in the leaves, she was so light. I was certain I'd burned a million calories just from laughing, and the sun was setting before we even thought of going inside.

"That was so much fun," I admitted as we finally made our way indoors, our noses and cheeks red from the cold air without the warm sun beating down on us.

"Fall is my favorite season," Isla said in agreement.

"Not summer?" I asked, thinking suddenly back to the Halloween dance. Amberly had been wearing the fall dress out of the four seasons the girls coordinated, and Isla had worn the sunny summer gown.

Isla seemed to realize what I was referring to and gave me a surprised, flattered look. "Oh, that. No, we didn't coordinate our dresses based off of who likes which season the most. It was more… Symbolic. It was sort of about how our friendship works."

"That's unique."

"Besides," Isla added, "fall is everyone's favorite season. Isn't it yours?"

"No," I admitted. "I like spring. That's when all of my siblings and I have our birthdays, so there's always family at the palace and celebrations going on. It's pretty much the busiest, happiest season here, and the rest of the time it's all politics and closed doors." I thought about the secrets that had been kept from me about Marid Illea, and immediately wondered if Isla was being sponsored by him.

But no, she couldn't be. Isla was too honest. I could never see her lying to me. I couldn't see any of the girls here lying to me. I was going to be falling in love with one of them, and I couldn't imagine it being faked from the other side. But wasn't that the problem? There was a chance I was being completely fooled. What if I made the wrong choice?


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's Note: Thanks for sticking with me! Thank you to my reviewers and to the people who vote on my poll, which is located in my profile. If you'd like to weigh in on the story, please vote!**

"Mom?" I asked, poking my head into her room. She was sitting at a table with Kile Woodwork, the two of them laughing and looking at some blueprints between them. She looked up, looking a little guilty, and quickly pushed the blueprints back toward Mr. Woodwork.

"Yeah, Ash?" Mom answered breezily. I knew too well that she was hiding something, but now was not the time to address it, not in front of a guest.

"I was just wondering when you and Dad were going to do that whole 'meet the parents' thing with the Elite. You know, so I can plan accordingly." I grinned conspiratorially at her. She gave me a light smile back.

"Oh, Ash, I don't know. I admit I haven't given it much thought. I'm busy being a Queen, you know," she told me.

I glanced at the blueprints. "Okay, well, let me know. The Elite will be waiting, and I don't plan on making an elimination soon, so you should make the most of the time we have before Christmas."

"Just because it's not a holiday doesn't mean I don't have work to do," Mom said sharply. "There's some tension going on that we have to deal with."

I blinked. "Okay." And I shut the door, frustrated. So she had time to spend with this mysterious Kile Woodwork, someone who barely said five words to me in all the time he was here, but she couldn't spend any at all with the Elite? She was the one who had encouraged this Selection in the first place!

Brushing off my angry mood, I determined to make the rest of my day interesting. In the past few days, I'd been hard at work planning another event for all of the Elite to take part in, since I didn't want anything to be boring now that all the excitement had settled down. But I wanted to spend some time with someone, missing the company, so I'd sent word to Greece, requesting her company outside. My date with Isla had reminded me how much I wanted to enjoy the weather before it got cold enough that I didn't want to step foot outside of the palace.

Greece met me at the doors, holding a metal bucket in one hand. She had on a blue day dress and heels, which looked uncomfortable for the outdoors, and for a moment I was disappointed that she hadn't thought to wear clothes that were easier to move in.

"Chalk," Greece announced, holding the bucket out to me. I peered inside. Sidewalk chalk?

"Where did you get that?" I asked, amused. Greece winked at me. Again! What was it with girls and winking?

"Caroline had a ton. She said to help myself, as long as I would be with you. I think she's hoping we'll fall in love over one of her toys or invite her along. I'm not quite sure which." Greece grinned.

"Come on, then," I said, and we opened the doors.

Feeling mischievous, we decided to use the chalk right there on the cement steps path up to the doors, right where anyone approaching the palace could see. We drew colorful daisies and trees at first, unsure of what else we could do with the dusty tools, but then Greece forced me to look the other way as she drew out her idea. I rubbed my hand nervously into the cheesy yellow sun I'd drawn. What was she creating?

Unable to wait, I turned around. I'd given it a fair minute or two, but impatience bit at me like the wind that tore through the open air. Greece was scampering around with multiple chalk pieces in her hand, creating large, loopy bubble letters that spelled out my name, Prince Ashton, all the way down the sidewalk.

Fighting the flattered smile that tried to creep it's way onto my face, I ran down to the closest empty pavement and began writing out Greece's name in retaliation. Greece called after me, scolding me for looking.

"It was supposed to be a surprise!" she cried.

"So was this!" I replied mockingly, waving my hand at the letters I'd poorly written out. She'd done a much better job with my name than I had with hers.

Greece continued doodling on the word art she'd created, filling in the letters and coloring the ground. I watched her for a while, giving up at my lack of creativity. She furiously scribbled until the chalk pieces became nubs, then dug in the bucket for a matching color. It took a while, but soon she'd filled in the entire 'Prince' and was about to move on to my name when I stopped her.

"Leave it like that," I said. "It looks nice." She looked at me skeptically.

"Are you sure?" she asked. I nodded.

"Definitely," I assure her. She looked back down at the chalk art, then at her feet. Without a word, she kicked off her heels to the side and snatched up another piece of chalk.

"Come on, I have an idea!" Greece cried, grabbing my arm and tugging me down the sidewalk. We had a ways to run, since our word art had taken up quite a bit of length, but finally we reached an empty splotch. "Have you ever played hopscotch?" she asked. I nodded, rolling my eyes.

"Of course, I have siblings, don't I?" I scoffed. Greece grinned at me and began drawing out a hopscotch course. I knelt down by her, throwing in suggestions. It turned into a difficult course, but once it was done, we stood up, satisfied.

"I challenge you to a game of hopscotch," I announced, grinning at Greece.

We hopped a few games before we noticed the gathering clouds. I reacted quickly, knowing how suddenly storms tended to start and stop in Angeles. Grabbing the scattered chalk, Greece and I raced for the palace doors, getting inside just as the first drops of rain began to fall. We panted, leaning against the now shut doors, grinning at each other.

I let that signal the end of the date, but I was certain we would see each other soon. The rain put a damper on my plans for the party I'd been planning, since it was supposed to be outdoors, but I decided to reschedule it for the following day instead. The girls didn't yet know about it, so it wouldn't throw much of a wrench into the schedule.

While I changed into a new set of clothes and washed off the chalk dust that had accumulated on my arms, I brainstormed something new to do. There had just been a food truck brought in with the last local harvest of pumpkins and the kitchen maids were about to turn it into pies for the upcoming week. Maybe I could make some pies. Dad and Mom used to do it all the time when I was younger- they'd go down to the kitchen and come back with some new treat they'd cooked up. Or sometimes we'd get a visitor who'd help them cook, but he hadn't been around since I was too young to learn his name.

I knocked at Carmella's door, and her maids swung it open politely. I smiled at them.

"May I speak to Lady Carmella?" I asked them. Carmella stepped into view curiously. I hadn't called on her in her room before. She was wearing a modest gray day dress and low heels. It reminded me that I almost always saw her in neutral colors- even her Halloween costume had been silver, as the spiderweb.

"I was hoping you'd join me in the kitchens today," I said. "For some pie baking."

"I'd love to, Prince Ashton," she responded. "Would you prefer it if I changed?" She indicated her dress.

"Only if you're concerned about getting it dirty."

She hesitated. I knew she'd be less stiff as soon as we were away from her maids- it was just how she was raised. She'd acted like royalty for the most part, except around the Selected and my cousins. If I had to guess, I would say she was my sister's new favorite, since she was the quietest and most polite. That didn't give me any reason to dislike her, though. I was looking for the same happily ever after that she was, after all, and I couldn't judge how she'd been raised. My parents had taught Lucy to be the composed heir, and if Carmella's parents had expected her to marry someone of similar privilege, it was no wonder they expected her to act the same way. The public only loves the figure they can't destroy.

Carmella decided not to change, but once in the kitchens, we both accepted aprons from the chef, as well as an instructor to show us how to make our first pie. It turned out to be fairly fun, especially using a mixer, and we easily whipped up the first batch of pie filling. At that point, the instructor left us with the recipe to create a couple more.

Carmella measured while I mixed, a process that worked well since she was more graceful and precise than I was. It was easy to scrape the sides of a bowl with a spatula while simultaneously spinning it under the mixer, but I got lost at the directions of teaspoon versus tablespoon, especially when they were abbreviated.

"Have you tasted the batter yet?" I asked as I stopped the mixer to poke my finger in it.

"It's not batter, it's pie filling," Carmella corrected warily. "And you'll get germs in it!"

I licked my finger. It didn't taste half bad, but I definitely preferred it baked in a pie. Wagging my finger at her teasingly, I said, "Oh come on, try it! Whatever germs you get in it will be cooked out anyway. Or we'll just tell them to save this one specifically for us."

"As long as no one is going to eat it but us, we can't be to blame for getting anyone sick," she relented, dipping her pinky in and tasting the filling. "Not bad," she said.

"Not bad?" I asked, pretending to be horrified, though I completely agreed. "I'm offended you think my cooking is only 'not bad.' Pah!"

"Our cooking," she reminded me.

"Our cooking," I agreed.

I told the chef to save that pie for us when we handed it off to him to be poured into a crust and baked. He smiled heartily and agreed, waltzing off again as the kitchen bustled around us. I was grateful for the presence of the cooks and kitchen maids. I rarely visited the kitchen, but now I could see for myself how much hard work they did, and I was glad to say Carmella and I pitched in, even for something as trivial as pumpkin pies.

"You know," I told Carmella, "pretty soon we'll be inviting your families to come visit, now that it's been narrowed down. Anything I should know in advance?" As lightly as I said it, I was nervous. They were politicians, so surely they would have opinions on how this country was being run!

"They love the royal family," Carmella said immediately, her eyes widening. "And they'll just adore your older sister. I'm sure they'll have a lot in common."

I took that in. What would they have in common with Lucy? I tried to think of something that Lucy had talked about on _The Report_ lately, but nothing came to mind. I hadn't been paying enough attention. Had Lucy even talked about anything lately? Now that I thought about it, she really hadn't. Frustrated, I gave up and moved on. Carmella certainly wasn't adding anything.

I turned to the recipe. "Okay, this 'c' means cups, right? So how much pumpkin do we need?"

Carmella leaned over, and we quickly got back into our rhythm of mixing and measuring, chatting all the while. I learned that she'd met Olivier and Mathys long before she'd met me, since they'd attended a gala with Aunt Camille that Carmella's parents were hosting. Mathys and Olivier had never mentioned that, so I was surprised, but it was a wonderful conversation starter, as we quickly began trading comments on my two lively cousins.

"Oh, please," I said to her. "They think they're slick with all of the foreign girls they meet."

"They definitely are flirts," Carmella agreed.

"Visiting during the Selection was like paradise for them." I laughed, and Carmella dumped the cinnamon into the mixing bowl, sending a fresh wave of the unique scent wafting through the air.

"I'm sure they had plenty to say," she mused.

"More than. We spent an entire night just talking about the Selection, actually. They're the ones who recommended I send home Hensley and Mist. Or, maybe not them, but it was one of my cousins."

Carmella stopped as she was measuring out her next ingredient. "You sent them home because of your cousin's recommendation?" she asked, her tone flat. I stopped, too, surprised at her reaction.

"Well, no," I defended. "I agreed with them. They just prompted me."

"Excuse me? Your Highness?" Someone stepped forward, interrupting us. It was a short maid wearing thick oven mitts and holding a steaming pie pan. Carmella and I turned to acknowledge her. "Your pie finished baking. Would you like to it some of it now or wait?"

I glanced at Carmella. She still looked a bit upset, so I said, "We'd love some now. And we'll get out of your way while we're eating." The maid brightened and led us over to a wooden table at the end of the kitchen. It was long and beaten up, and I surmised it was where the maids and guards ate their meals in between shifts.

After leaving us with a jug of milk and two full glasses, as well as slices of the too hot pie, the kitchen staff ignored us as they returned to their duties. I used this time to address Carmella's odd reaction.

"Why are you so upset that I took my cousin's suggestions?" I asked, bewildered. Carmella pursed her lips, looking at the pie, willing it to be cool enough to eat so she didn't have to respond to me.

Eventually, she said, "I thought you were independent. I thought you made your own decisions."

"I do," I responded. "I made almost every decision here by myself. I didn't even tell my parents I was making that last Elimination. But my family's opinions matter to me. I don't always go along with them, but sometimes I do."

"You don't even understand how difficult it is to never have your own voice," Carmella told me. "You're wasting it."

"Carmella, they weren't the only girls I was told I should send home, but every girl I sent home I did because I felt we had no future together. The advice I'm given is just advice. My decision is my decision. And I certainly don't make choices based off politics-" I stopped. Carmella was hoping I was the opposite of her. I was hoping that, too, because I knew Lucy was like her parents. I loved her and she loved me, but she was bred to be Queen, and that came before her brother. Just like Carmella's parents wanted her to do the right thing for their politics, Lucy wanted me to improve her relations with the new Purist rebel group. The only difference was, Carmella obeyed and I didn't.

"If I tell you something, you have to promise not to repeat it," I told Carmella. She nodded hesitantly. "There are some of the Selected- I don't know who- that are being sponsored by some very important political people. They're hoping that if I choose whoever they're backing, then I'll be influenced by what they want. And my sister is supporting that because she thinks it will ease tension. But I told her, and I wasn't lying when I did, that I'm not doing this for anyone but myself, or anything but love. I'm not doing what everyone else wants me to, no matter what."

Carmella took a bite of the pie. "This is delicious," she commented. I waited for her to respond to what I'd just told her. She looked me in the eye. "What are you hoping for more? That what you want and they want will correspond, or that you'll choose against their intentions? Because that's what matters more than what you say you'll do."


End file.
